Return To The Lovers' Nest
by aRIyUKi of tHE sNoW
Summary: An old friend of Yusei, Jack and Crow returns to New Domino City without any knowledge of the past few years. Hinagiku and the gang are back together on a quest to find her past! On Hiatus :C
1. Birds of a Feather

**Ariyuki**- Hey everyone, it's Ariyuki with my first ever Yugioh 5ds fan fiction! I wrote like twelve different 5ds fanfics but never got to typing them, so here I am finally publishing one! It's also not a one shot like the stories I usually write. I thought I'd try my hand at a multichapter story.

**Kurama**- I think it's pretty good so far.

**Ariyuki**- Thanks Ku-chan! Care to give a quick summary?

**Kurama**- Sure. When Yusei, Crow, and Jack were members of The Enforcers, there was a fifth member that mysteriously disappeared soon after Kalin left. Years later, she shows up at the Poppo Time Garage with no memory of the years she was gone. She starts a whole lot of trouble that I won't give away!

**Ariyuki**- And the shippings?

**Kurama**-This story features Faithshipping (YuseiXAkiza), Guardshipping (CrowXOc) and Memoryshipping (YuseiXOc)

**Crow**- Ari rated this T because if Jack Atlas is in a story, there's bound to be violence somewhere.

**Jack**- Oh really? And I take it that it had nothing to do with your foul mouth?

**Crow**- Shut up blonde!

**Jack**- You shut up, bird brain!

_*Crow and Jack begin to fight*_

**Ariyuki**-*sweat drop* Please excuse any spelling or grammatical errors. Just send me a private message to fix it! Oh yah! My inspiration for this story is the DS game Yugioh Championship 2010, Reverse of Arcadia. The fifth Enforcer looks like my avatar on the game and I developed her personality as I went through the story mode.

**Kurama**- Ari doesn't own Yugioh 5ds, Carebears(?) or Yugioh Championship 2010 but she does own the fifth Enforcer!

Return to the Lovers' Nest

**Chapter One: Birds of a Feather…**

It was a beautiful mid-August morn in New Domino City. Yusei Fudo stepped down from the last ring of the apartment ladder and stood on the cold, tiled floor of the kitchen. He walked sleepily over to the sinks and opened up the curtains to the windows above them. Sunlight poured in through the clean glass, illuminating the raven haired mans' glittering cobalt eyes. Yusei walked over to the other windows in the adjacent living room and propped up the left most pane. The cool wind felt good as it rushed over Yusei's bare chest. The signer turned around and flopped lazily on the softly cushioned couch. Yusei tugged the thin remote of the coffee table, clicked on the TV and threw it into the pocket of his loose-fitting gray sweats, that sagged just below the top of his navy blue, plaid boxers.

The past week, Yusei had stayed up all night attempting to enhance his new engine model for the World Turbodueling Grand Prix. Last night was the first time he'd really slept in weeks, and he barely got any even then, courtesy of his reoccurring nightmare with the Ghost. Now, the exhausted boy was practically void of all energy. Yusei nuzzled his face into one of the sofa cushions, determined to, as much as he wished he was working, finally get some well deserved R&R. There was nothing that could stop him from relaxing. Absolutely nothing was going to get in his way of…

"GOOD MORNING YUSEEEEEEEEEEIIIIIIIIIIIIII!" Crow Hogan yelled as he jumped down from the top ladder ring onto the kitchen floor. Yusei groaned and slapped his forehead. He thought too soon. Any other morning and he'd be jumping down that ladder with Crow, full of life and energy. Any other freaking morning! Yusei sighed. "Morning Crow." he responded wearily. The ginger-haired duelist walked over to the couch with a saddened expression plastered on his face. "Sorry…are you ok man?" Crow asked quietly. Yusei nodded slowly.

"Did you get any sleep last night? Or did you…see the ghost?" Crow inquired. Yusei winced. Crow sat down on the empty side of the couch and placed a hand on Yusei's shoulder. He hated when Yusei was like this; he'd work himself to the grave trying to do him part for the team and then have barely the energy to stay conscious, to be himself. Crow placed his hands on his knees and laid his head on the back of the couch, looking over at the TV. "Bro…" he commented. "You know you're watching Carebears right?" Yusei chuckled softly. "I had no idea." The two laughed as Crow lay opposite on his side of the couch and placed his long legs on top of Yusei's. The two began to rest quietly as animated bears bounced happily across the screen. Truth be told, Crow was also tired, but from the late hours and multiple jobs he had to maintain. His schedule had kept him away from socializing, dueling and practicing for the Grand Prix, let alone taking a breather once and while. Crow glanced over at his best friend, who lay peacefully across from him, and smiled. He was glad Yusei could finally enjoy some peace and quiet; he definitely deserved it. Just total peace and..

"CROW! What the duce did you do with my extra towel? I know you did something!" Jack Atlas yelled as he hastily climbed down the ladder rings. Yusei, who was now, once again and sadly awake, buried his head under the sofa cushion and cried out weakly, "Why cruel world? Why can't I rest?" Crow got up angrily and ran over to Jack, grabbing the collar of his blue silk pjs.

"Hey genius! Yusei's trying to relax so stuff it!" Crow yelled in Jacks' ear.

"Let go of me stupid!" Jack grabbed Crows' arm and threw him on his back. "Yusei, are you ok mate?" Yusei groaned and watched as Crow punched Jack from behind and the two began to fight. He was never going to get any rest.

*Knock* *Screek*

Jack and Crow stopped fighting and Yusei sat up. Someone was at the door! Jack pouted and muttered, "No one enters the home of Jack Atlas without an invite. Unless it's Akiza here to see her little boyfriend, I'll be kicking them out!" "Oh shut up!" Yusei mumbled at Jack, somewhat embarrassed. "Sheesh! Chill princess Jack, I'll get it," Crow responded as he got from under Jack, off the floor and walked to the stairs, descending to the basement. Moments later, Yusei and Jack heard Crow gasp and yell, "NO WAY! IT..IT CAN"T BE!" Yusei jumped up from the couch and he and Jack ran downstairs to Yusei's workshop/runner garage. "Crow! What's wrong man? Who is it?" Yusei yelled as he and Jack turned the staircase corner and looked down on the ginger. The two froze as they saw a girl with pink, curly, shoulder-length hair and light hazel eyes step off of her Duel Runner and place her arms around Crow. The ginger duelists' eyes began to tear as he hugged the girl back and kissed her forehead lightly. "I don't believe it…" Crow whispered into her ear softly. Yusei and Jack, also with tears forming in their eyes, slowly crept up to Crow. Yusei cleared his throat and asked, "Is that…is it really…really you? You're alive!" The girl smiled brightly and responded, "Hai, Yusei! Jack! Crow-sama! It's been too long since I last saw you! Have you guys finally gotten taller?" The girl winked cutely at them as she gave them a quick military salute. Jack and Yusei laughed and threw their arms around her as Crow embraced the girl even harder. They all cried out, "H…ina…Hinagiku!"

**Ariyuki**- So, there's the first chapter. The mysterious girl from the guys past, Hinagiku, has revealed herself. I think I'll start explaining her past in small chunks over the next few chapter as to keep up suspense! Akiza should show up soon as well! Next Chapter: A Lost Chick

**Kurama**- Read and Review! No flames please ^-^


	2. A Lost Chick

**Ariyuki**- Glasses up! Three cheers for Chapter Two!

**Kurama**- Here, here!

**Ariyuki**- So I'd like to start by saying sorry this took so long to update! Between final exams, performing at graduation and just a lot of personal business, I haven't have time to.

**Kurama**- Ari is very, very sorry! Gomen!

**Ariyuki**- Secondly, I'd like to thank _**I Snogged a Giant Squid**_for reviewing and would like to quickly respond to their message. First off, I'd like to give an explanation for Crows' characterization. To tell the truth, I exaggerated his actions on purpose; I know he doesn't usually act like Rua (aka a complete spa) but I really wanted to torture the sleepless Yusei a little (XD). I needed Crow to be really obnoxious in order for there to be a good, loud impact. Also, I have seen and more frequently watch the subbed/Japanese version of 5ds. The reason for my iffy characterization? Probably the fact that all my fanfics I've ever written or published only had two characters; Judai Yuki and Asuka : ) A big oops about the Kiryu/Kalin thing! In this fic, I'll call him Kiryu. I called Team Satisfaction the Enforcers. That's gonna change too. The story is set in Japan. Finally, I'll read and review your story soon! Thanks!

**Jack**- Okay, okay! Stop talking and start the story already!

**Crow**- Shut up Jack! You're always so impatient! Let Ari finish her thought!

**Jack**- What'd you say?

**Kurama**- Oh boy! *slaps forehead* Guys, let's not have a fight again. You already broke enough stuff last time!

**Ariyuki**- Ku-chan… can you handle them? I'll take care of the disclaimer.

**Kurama**- On it! Go! Rose Whip!

*Kurama pulls a rose from out of his hair that turns into a thorn covered whip. With a flick of the wrist, he sends Crow and Jack flying. He runs off to deal more damage…*

**Ariyuki**- ...brutal. Oh yeah! There's some OOC today. Sorry in advance if you don't like that. Also, there's gonna be a bit of violence in this chapter. Just a heads up! I don't own Yugioh 5ds or Yugioh World Championship 2010, but I do own Hinagiku, the fifth member of TEAM SATISFACTION!

**Return to the Lovers' Nest**

**Chapter Two- A Lost Chick…**

"Hinagiku!" The boys happily embraced their long lost friend. Yusei and Crow, who just moments ago were devoid of all energy, felt rejuvenated and full of life; they were relieved to see that their comrade was safe and well after all this time. Crow looked happily at Hinagiku. After all these years of maturing, she still held several physical features from the past. Hinagiku had soft pink hair that rested just above her shoulders. Her bangs curled in front of her light, hazel eyes, that had an aqua blue ring around the outside of the pupil. Most of Hinagikus' locks lay atop her head but she had a distinct curl that flipped a top her head like a small, pink, dorsal fin. Hinagiku wore a thin, tight, crimson tank top that stopped just above her pale, but toned, stomach. Over that was a short sleeveless jacket with pale blue fabric and white trimming. Around her neck, she wore a long silver chain that sported a round prism that changed colours with the sunlight. She wore a short, skin-tight mini skirt with the same material that made up the jacket and black leggings that covered half of her thighs. Finally, Hinagiku had on a pair of custom sneaks; they were a darker shade of blue, with a tall, three inch rubber heel, an open top and toe, and laces that strapped up her ankle like the ribbons of a ballet flat. The young turbo duelists released their grip on the pinkette, who stood back and observed the place her friends called home.

"Wow, this sure is a nice place you have! Quite the upgrade from the slums of Satellite." Hinagiku marveled. She pulled a few strands of soft hair off her shoulder as she walked over to Yusei's computer and engine set up. "This is Yusei's stuff, right?" she asked curiously as she bent over and looked at a piece of machinery that stood on a metallic platform. Yusei nodded. "Yeah. That in front of you is my new model of a…"

" …Turbo dihedral engine cooler! Wow! This is top notch stuff, Yus! Still as sharp as a tack, huh?" Hinagiku responded awe struck, her eyes glued to the cooler and one hand feeling over the slick metal. Yusei blushed lightly from the complement, but slightly wondered just where she'd learned about the parts of a runner engine.

Jack crossed his arms, crinkling the sleeves of his silk pjs. He sighed and said playfully, " Well Hinagiku, I wish you'd let me know you were coming ahead of time. I would have gotten dressed a bit more… fashionably. Sheesh!" Hinagikus' eyes wavered and she asked," I…I'm sorry. Is this a bad time? I just got into the city and thought I should find you guys first…" Crow growled angry, ran over to Jack and punched him clean in the face. Jack stumbled back to his feet and glared angrily at Crow, shouting, "What the duce was that?"

"How dare you talk to Hina like that!" Crow responded. Jack spit at the ginger and placed Crow in a headlock, then yelled in his ear, "Idiot! Ever heard of sarcasm? And sorry, I don't like looking like crap in front of the ladies, unlike you! At least Yusei may look nice to her, shirtless and all, but you look like you just got out of bed!" "I did! So did you genius!" Crow yelled back as he threw Jack over his shoulder. The two began to fight. Yusei sighed, slapping one hand on his forehead as he walked over to Hinagiku, who was laughing under her breath.

Yusei and Hinagiku smiled at each other and Hinagiku said, " Still the same huh?" Yusei nodded and responded, "Yup. All these years and no change. Jacks' still an egotistic maniac. Crows' still overprotective. No change." Yusei looked at the side of Hinagikus' runner, noting the neon pink duffel bag. "So, do you need a place to stay?" Yusei asked.

Hinagiku bit her lips and said, slightly ashamed, "Yes, please... If you have room. Plus I… need you guys to help me…with something."

"Huh?" Yusei placed a hand on Hinagikus' shoulder.

"Do you remember the day I was taken away?" she asked, cautiously. Yusei nodded, shuttering at the thought of that awful day…

***Three years ago***

** "Jack! Jack! Where are you bro?" A younger Crow Hogan yelled loudly as he ran with a hand cupped to his mouth. "I don't think he hears you… maybe he's not here. He said he'd be around with Hina, but he didn't specify where," Young Yusei Fudo told his friend quietly. He shoved his hands in the pockets of his black skinnys and looked around the alleyway nervously. "Come on Crow. Let's check somewhere else."**

** Crow shook his head, pulled his fingers through his orange hair and sighed, "Yusei, what are you so scared of all of the sudden?" **

** Yusei shook his head, "It's nothing man. I just heard the police have gotten really crazy lately. Well, since the whole Kiryu thing… And I know we're good guys, but they don't know that. The quicker we get back inside, the better."**

** Crow nodded. "Fine. The moment we find Hina and take care of business, we'll go back to the base." Crow looked up at the sky. "We'd better hurry. It's starting to rain!" The two boys hurried down the crowded streets of Satellite, keeping a close eye on each others backs; the boulevard were lined with dealers, gang members and overall shifty characters. "Hina…Jack…" Crow called out, a bit quieter than before. **

** "Crow! Over here! " a voice finally yelled back. Yusei took a small breath of relief, and ran towards the location of the sound, an abandoned shop with the front windows broken out. "Behind the front desk!" The two boys climbed through one of the window panes, looked around the room and spotted a tall, worn table. They snuck over to the desk and looked behind. Young Jack Atlas sat on the ground with a small, red velvet box in one hand . He smiled slightly and stated, "Good timing you two. Hinagiku was starting to think I'd kidnapped her!" Hinagiku sat next to Jack with a makeshift blindfold over her eyes. She crossed her legs and arms, and said suspiciously, "Well, what sort of an impression do you think were you making by blindfolding me and carrying me to an abandoned…wherever we are!" She pouted. Crow laughed a little, sitting down next to her and removing the blindfold. She looked up at him and smiled. "Crow-sama…" The two embraced and leant in for a sloppy kiss. Yusei and Jack groaned and Yusei sat next to Jack while the other two made out loudly in front of them. Crow and Hinagiku had shared feelings for each other for a very long time and Yusei and Jack forced them to start going out . They were happy that the couple was happy, however, it got a little tiring watching their greeting ritual every time they met. Jack cleared his throat loudly and the lovers broke reluctantly broke their kiss. Hinagiku laughed as she scooted over near Jack and Yusei, giving each of them a peck on the lips. "Jealous ninnies! Here you go!" she said as sat back with Crow. **

** Jack, embarrassed, growled. "Jack Atlas is never jealous! Everyone is jealous of Jack Atlas!" Yusei flashed a toothy grin at Hinagiku, who smiled back; he sure wasn't going to complain. Crow chuckled, not at all bothered by his Hina kissing them; she was just too dang cute to get mad at. **

** "Back to business!" Crow proclaimed, "We all know why we're here today! Well, minus Hinagiku." **

** Yusei nodded and spoke. " Three years ago, Crow found a young girl, abandoned and left on the street. He brought her home, and the three of us brought her into our confused, orphan family."**

** Jack nodded and continued. "Because her parents never told her the date of her birth before they passed, the three of us have proclaimed today her birthday, to which requires celebration! Happy birthday, Hinagiku!"**

** Hinagikus' face lit up. "You guys… you didn't need to do this for me. Thanks so much!" The four embraced and Yusei, Jack and Crow placed three small packages into her hands. "Open them." Hinagiku nodded happily. She picked up the velvet box that Jack had held earlier and opened it. Inside lay a foil synchro card, **_**Gilford the Dark Legendary Swordsman**_**, and the tuner, **_**Dark Protector**_**. Hinagiku grinned widely and threw her arms around Jack, who blushed. "Oh Jack! This is great! You have no idea how long I've been searching for these cards! They're so rare! How'd you afford this?" **

** Jack shrugged and answered bluntly, "I have my ways. Look at Yusei's gift next!" He pointed to the neatly wrapped box.**

** Hinagiku nodded and picked up the item in her hands. She opened it gingerly. Inside lay two more cards, the synchro **_**White Gilford the Blade Champion**_** and the tuner **_**Holy Prot**__**é**__**g**__**é**__**.**_** "Impossible! The other ultimate form and tuner of **_**Gilford the Legend.**_** I can't believe it!" she exclaimed. Yusei scratched his cheek coyly and gave Hinagiku a small hug.**

** " When Jack found Dark Swordsman, I thought it'd be better if you had the whole Gilford arsenal," Yusei said happily. Hinagikus' eyes filled with tears of joy as she carefully placed Jack and Yusei's cards into her deck box. Crow placed a hand on her shoulder. **

** "No tears yet! You still have one more gift!" Crow said. Hinagiku sniffled a little and picked up his gift, that was concealed in a silver box. She opened it; inside was a long silver necklace that boasted a large glass prism surrounded by silver inlaid designs. Tears rolled down Hinagikus' face. **

"**Crow…oh crow! How did you? It's so…beautiful!" She whispered as she leant forward and planted kisses on Crows' forehead. The ginger took the necklace out of the box and gently clasped it around her neck. "For my princess, I'll buy anything," he whispered in her ear. Hinagiku turned to her friends. "You guys are," she started as she pulled them all in for a group hug. "…the best friends a girl could ever have! I love you guys!" The guys smiled at each other, feeling fairly accomplished at pleasing their friend. **

** "Oh how cute. A group of street rats and a tender little mouse having a little party. Mind if we join in?" The four looked up quickly to see a tall man with shoulder length, blonde hair in a black suit and about ten others with brown uniforms. The leader stepped forward nonchalantly as Yusei, Jack and Crow got to their knees and stood in front of Hinagiku. Hinagiku scrambled to her feet and clung to Crows' shoulders. Jack stepped forward, cocked his head and eyed the man angrily.**

** "Nobody calls Jack Atlas a street rat! Just who are you? Eh?" He yelled into his face as he grabbed the collar of his shirt. The man smiled. **

** "You may call me Kaoru. A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Atlas," he responded, unfazed by Jacks' aggressive attitude. " If you don't mind, I have some business to attend to and I need to borrow…her!" Kaoru grabbed Jacks' hand, ripping it from his collar and sent his other fist straight into Jacks' rib cage. Yusei gasped as Kaoru pulled back his hand and sent it flying at Jacks' jaw, hitting it hard enough to send him flying back into a wall with a satisfying crunch.**

** "Jack! Are you ok?" Crow yelled out as he stepped back closer to the wall, pushing Hinagiku against the cold stone. Kaoru moved closer a little more, causing Crow and Yusei to tense up. " The girl. Give her to me and run along now. We have important things to take care of with her. **

** Crow gritted his teeth and said to Kaoru in an fuming voice "There is no way…no way in hell …that I will let you… hurt her!"**

** "We're not going to hurt her. We just need to borrow her forever!"Kaoru remarked. He motioned for him men to move in; three men pulled steel poles from off the ground and approached the teens. **

** "Forgetting about me?" Yusei asked as he windmill kicked the three men down to the floor. A fourth man grabbed another pole and swung it at Yusei's head. Yusei ducked and sent a punch straight to his gut, then turned to Crow. "Listen Crow! I'll handle these jerks! You get Hinagiku out of here now! As far as you can go!" Yusei commanded. **

** Sweat dripped down Crows' brow nervously. "I…can't just leave you here to take these guys all by yourself!" he stammered. **

** "He's not alone!" a voice called out from beside them. Jack stumbled to his feet and wiped the blood dripping from his chin with his wrist. "Kaoru! That was the saddest punch I've ever felt! I'm surprised any Atlas blood was actually shed!" Jack turned to Crow. "Just let me and Yusei handle these bozos! Get the duce out of here!" Crow shut his eyes, grabbed Hinagikus' hand and pulled her past the counter to a back window. He punched through the glass, ignoring the pain that sliced through his hand and turned once more to his friends. Yusei and Jack smiled and nodded for him to go. Crow smirked uneasily, picked Hinagiku up bridal style and jumped out the window. " Yusei! Jack! You guys!" Hinagiku yelled as Crow began to run. Her screams were drowned out by the sound of heavy rain as she and Crow disappeared from sight. **

** Kaoru frowned and turned to his men. "You four! Follow them! Don't let them get away," he ordered. The men nodded and jumped through Crows' escape hole. Kaoru faced Yusei and Jack. "And what to do with you. You're disposable trash. You can die!" Jack growled and he and Yusei went back to back as the remaining six men and Kaoru surrounded them. **

** "Got a plan?" Jack asked Yusei agitatedly. Yusei wiped the sweat from his chin and responded, "Nope. Hope they make it..." The men began to attack Yusei and Jack . Jack grabbed one of the men and threw him into two others. Yusei, using Jacks' shoulder as a boost, sent three hard kicks into the faces of his attackers. They got up, almost immediately, and grabbed the previously discarded steel poles. Jack managed to dodge the first two swings at his face, but was unprepared for the third swing to his gut. He doubled over, clutching his stomach, leaving Yusei's back half exposed. Another man send the bar flying into the back of Yusei's skull with a clean hit. Yusei fell to the ground in pain. **

** "Yusei! Get up!" Jack yelled as he staggered back up. Yusei forced himself back up only to take two hits to the stomach. Yusei clenched his abdomen as he bent over in pain. He felt his stomach lurch and blood began to drip out of his mouth onto the floor. Yusei, once again forced himself back up on his feet and attempted to protect himself; with another side kick he sent two men flying back against the broken windows, shattering the dirty glass. One of the men came up from behind and kicked Yusei to the ground. The henchman smirked evilly as he continuously sent the rod back into Yusei's stomach. Jack turned around anxiously, punched the man in the face and dropped down on top of Yusei just as the men swung at Yusei's defenseless body. "Yusei! Ahhh!" Jack felt a sharp pain as all the poles landed on his back. He felt his arms lose strength and he began to fall on top of his friend. Jack turned Yusei on his back while underneath him and attempted to wake him. He cried out , "Yusei… Yusei, come on! Don't do this to me!" Yusei's eyes opened weakly and he wheezed out Jacks' name. With another hit, Jack collapsed unconscious on top of his companion. Kaoru motioned for his men to cease their attack and smiled evilly as he surveyed the damage. The nuisances were knocked out clean and dying in front of him; he was finished with them.**

** "Right! You three! Get the truck ready! You three find Hinagiku and the red head!" Kaoru ordered loudly. The men ran off quickly, leaving Kaoru alone. He chuckled and pulled a cigarette out of his suit pocket, then searched his pants for his lighter. "Mission accomplished."**

** "No…I won't let you!" a voice called out feebly. Yusei stumbled to his feet and glared at Kaoru. The blonde walked up to Yusei curiously and placed a hand on his chin, lifting up his head. "You are so cute! Trying to stand up and protect your friend is nice. However, you really need some rest. Lay down! I insist," Kaoru said to Yusei. Suddenly, he threw him to the floor. Yusei's head smacked the ground and he rolled on his side. Kaoru watched amused as Yusei made an effort to get up once again, his hands shaking against the tiles and broken glass. He glanced over at Jack tensely; Yusei could feel himself losing consciousness but he needed to stay awake and protect Jack. Kaoru walked up to his struggling victim and placed his foot on Yusei left ankle, pushing down as hard as he could. The madman laughed as he was pleased by Yusei's petty screams and cries. With a crack, Kaoru felt his foot break a bone. "Nighty, night!" Kaoru laughed as Yusei dropped to the floor in a fetal positon. He turned around and sauntered out of the shop laughing. Yusei clutched his ankle and felt its' severe sting. He was in intense pain and could hardly move; Yusei felt like death was staring him in the face. **

** "Don't give up…Yusei!" Yusei turned his head upward and looked at the figure who stood above him. **

** "Jack...Help me up. We've got to save them!" Jack nodded faintly and lifted Yusei's arm around his shoulder. The two staggered out the front door, looking by each others backs for more of Kaorus' thugs. Jack felt rain drip down his sweat soaked face as he stepped outside and cursed at the sky. "This is really pissing me off! My friends are being chased by mad kidnappers, you're broken to bits and all this rain is going to totally ruin my clothes!" Yusei laughed weakly and smiled at bit at Jack. Jack turned his head to Yusei, smirking and asked. "What do you say we go find Crow and Hinagiku, then let those punks experience the second wave of Team Satisfaction beat down?" Yusei nodded. The two teens began to head in the direction Crow and Hinagiku ran. The alleyway they had gone down was a straight path that lead towards the gangs' hideout , so the teens assumed that's where they went. However when they got there, their friends were nowhere to be found. Jack cursed again and slammed his free hand against a wet, stone wall; Yusei was slowly slipping out of consciousness again and Crow and Hinagiku were no where to be found. Suddenly, Jack heard a loud bang. That had to have been a gunshot! Jack pulled Yusei's body over his bruised shoulder and ran toward the sound, which appeared to come from the valley just below them. Another shot rang out louder than before. Jack panted heavily as he ran faster and faster; he was close, he just knew it! Jack turned another corner and saw a blur of brown masses look over at him and glare. Jack swiveled his head,; where were Crow and Hinagiku?**

** "Crow!" Yusei screamed as he looked up slightly causing Jack to turn his head in the same direction. Hinagiku lay on the ground, mud and dirt clinging to her face and body, holding on to Crow who had series of slashes over his body and a gunshot wound on both of his shoulders. Jack almost dropped Yusei, who shook himself off of the blondes' shoulders and crawled over to Crow. Jack ran over as well. **

** Hinagiku was absolutely terrified. She looked over at her friends, beaten, bruised and cut, and bawled. Jack placed his arms around her for a moment. "It's ok. Don't worry about us. You're gonna be ok," Jack consoled her. He turned to the other four men, a look of anxiety and anger on his face. "You should…g…ive up now! There's no way we'll surrender Hinagiku over to you, no matter what you do!" he yelled hesitantly. The men laughed and aimed their guns at Jack. Hinagiku couldn't take it anymore; she turned to Yusei, then Crow and finally Jack. They had protected her; she wouldn't let them die! Jack closed his eyes and said his prayers, preparing for the bullets to kill him.**

** "STOP!" Jack turned his head and saw Hinagiku stand up and walk in front of him, shaking. "Stop hurting them. Please! I'll go with you!" Hinagiku pleaded. Jack gasped and grabbed her arm. **

** "What are you doing?" he yelled. Hinagiku smiled and forced him to let go of her. Jacks' eyes wavered. "Don't do it…"**

** Yusei looked up and screamed, "Hinagiku! What the heck? Don't do what I think you're doing!" He pulled himself to his feet. "Run away!" Hinagiku stepped toward the men. **

** "I'll go…if you promise to leave them alone. Do we have a deal?" Hinagiku asked the men. The middle one nodded and took her arm, pulling her towards them.**

** "Hinagiku!" Jack screamed out.**

** "Hinagiku…NO!" Yusei yelled as loud as he could.**

** "HINA!" **

** All eyes turned to Crow, who pulled himself up the wall and looked at her, tears in his eyes. "Please don't go!" he blubbered. Hinagiku wiped tears off of her cheeks and placed two finger on her forehead, giving a small military salute. She smiled and said, her voice choked with salty tears, "Thanks for loving me guys! Jack! Yusei! Crow! Goodbye!"**

** One of the men threw a smoke bomb into the boys faces. When the fog cleared, they had disappeared. Yusei fell to the ground, his body shaking as he desperately gasped for air. Jack gave up trying to hold back tears and fell to his knees, sobbing. Crow dropped back to the ground in shock, his face pale and covered in sweat. "No, no, no, NO!" he screamed.**

**She was gone.**

__*Present*

Yusei bit his lip and Jack stopped punching Crow. Yusei, attempting to stay calm, clenched his fists together in rage and managed to asked, "Hinagiku, what did they do to you?" Crow got off the ground, and placed a hand on Yusei's shoulder, motioning for him to relax. He walked up silently to Hinagiku and placed his arms around her, whispering in her ear, "What happened to you?" Hinagiku bit her lips as well and looked Crow dead in the eye.

"I don't know…"  
>_<p>

**Ariyuki-** Wow. That was a lot longer than I thought it would be. And a whole lot sadder, too!

**Kurama-** *sobbing* Poor Hinagiku! Poor Crow! Poor Yusei and Jack! That was so sad Ari!

**Ariyuki-** Pass me the tissues!

**Kurama- ***hands her a box of Kleenex*

**Ariyuki-** Thanks! If this made you sad, review please! If it didn't, review anyway! I'd like about two or three more reviews before I update again! Thanks for reading!

Next Chapter- My Bird of Paradise


	3. My Bird Of Paradise

**Ariyuki**- Chapter three is FINALLY here! Hurrah!

**Kurama**- Hey everyone! Hope you are enjoying Return to the Lovers' Nest so far!

**Ariyuki**- So, the last chapter was sort of gruesome, sort of sad. Hinagiku doesn't exactly have a sugar-coated past and the previous passage was just a small piece of it. However, this chapter will be a whole lot happier! Chapter Two was kind of exhausting to write since I'd never actually written a fight scene before in a fanfic. This chapter will be less tough stuff, a bit more of the fluff. Crow and Hina have some catching up to do. Jack starts to think about the past and wonders if he too, had feelings for Hinagiku. Plus, Yusei's gonna get grilled about a certain red head in a tight, turbo suit whose picture is on his phone!

**Kurama**- So last night when Ariyuki typed up this chapter, she was really upset that nobody reviewed Chapter Two. She had really hoped for just one review before she updated. However, this morning, when I was checking her email, I saw that **sammycrusinix** had reviewed! I actually had a spasm for a second. Thank for the review! I'm glad you're enjoying the story and Ari'll try to keep the story heart-wrenching for you! And by the way, I noticed you wrote a few fanfics with me as the main character. Kudos to you and Yu Yu Hakusho all the way!

**Crow**- Yeah. Whoever reviews for this chapter can borrow Jack and Kurama for a day! I'll personally wrap them up myself!

**Kurama and Jack**- What? You think you're funny?

**Crow-** Maybe… *smiles evilly*

**Kurama**- I am going to Rose Whip the crap out of you!

**Jack**- Feel the Atlas fury!

*Crow looks at the other two nervously. Kurama and Jack walk up to him, fists clenched, weapons in hand and ready to attack.*

**Ariyuki**- Uh… I'm gonna start the fic before those guys kill each other. Someone wanna do the disclaimer?

**Yusei**- Yups. Ariyuki doesn't own Yugioh 5ds or Yugioh Championship 2010, but she does own Hinagiku, the fifth member of Team Satisfaction!

Chapter Three- My Bird Of Paradise

"Hina, what happened to you?" Crow asked softly as he wrapped his arms around the pinkette and gently squeezed her shoulders. She looked up at the ginger, sighing deeply and answered back, "I don't know."

Yusei and Jack shot each other confused looks and walked over to Crow and Hinagiku. " What in the blazes do you mean? Were you in left in a coma these past few years or something?" Jack asked curiously. Yusei shook his head at the blonde.

"No… that wouldn't be it. I mean, they beat the crap out of us and kidnaped Hinagiku. To leave her in a coma doesn't make much sense. They had a motive: there was a reason they needed Hinagiku," Yusei explained. "Right?" he asked the pinkette.

"Exactly," she confirmed. Hinagiku folded her arms and her glance dropped to the ground. "I've got no idea what my captors did to me, so there's a chance they erased my memory. Maybe something went wrong and they needed to keep what happened a secret. I don't know…but…" Hinagiku clenched her fists tightly and looked back up at her friends. "I need to know. It was a part of my life; it shouldn't be a secret. It scares me that I know so little. I mean, I only woke up a few days ago, on a random street, sleeping on my runner. I had no idea I was even in Satellite, three years in the future for that matter, until I saw a holographic sign on a nearby building showing the news. I've lost the past…my past…and I need it back!"

Crow smiled slightly and put a hand on Hinagikus' shoulder. "We get it. You stay here. Together, the four of us will figure the whole thing out, no matter how long it takes! Plus, there's no way that the guys and I will let what that Kaoru dude did slide."

Yusei smirked and cracked his knuckles. "We're pretty sore losers. We want a rematch." He and Jack made fists and bumped them together, glancing at the others. Crow and Hinagiku nodded and stuck their hands in as well.

"We're all with you! We'll figure out your past, beat the bad guys and save the day! As usual, of course!" Jack announced loudly as the four knocked fists, sealing the promise.

"Right! First things first!" Yusei proclaimed loudly as he pulled his hand back. "Hinagiku, why don't you get situated upstairs? We don't have any extra rooms, but you wanna stay in Crows' room anyway, am I right?" Hinagiku blushed lightly.

"That's cool, you can crash with me. I've got your bag! Come on! I'll give you the official premises tour on the way!" Crow said as he held out his free arm. Hinagiku giggled and clutched his arm. Crow bowed like some type of a bellhop, earning him another giggle, and lead the pinkette upstairs to the second floor.

"He's an idiot, huh Yusei," Jack stated bluntly as he lent up against one of the garage walls.

"Yeah," Yusei agreed. " But, I don't blame him for being excited. I'm glad to see Hinagiku alive after all these years too." Yusei walked over to his computer table, pulled out a drawer and rummaged through until he located a screwdriver, tape measure and a Sharpie.

Jack frowned and crossed his arms. "You're just happy because you still like her," he stated.

"No I don't. Stop being stupid," Yusei answered back calmly as he lay on his back underneath his cooler contraption, and began to take measurements.

"You did," Jack continued. "I know you did. Admit it!"

Yusei groaned. "You did too, last I checked, You were super jealous of Crow," he remarked. Jack shot him a dirty look and said back, harshly, "No I did not! You lie! Jack Atlas is never jealous! "

The raven haired boy smiled lightly and looked back at his tape measure, marking 3cm increments on the metal body with his marker. Jack threw his hands up in defeat and began to head upstairs. "Besides…"

Jack turned around after hearing Yusei mumble. " Besides what?"

"I've got… other people to… think about; people to love and take care of. Rua and Ruka. And you know…Aki…and stuff" Yusei spoke softly. Jack shook his head at the head signer.

"Geez! Weren't you exhausted earlier? You should rest. You're delirious if you think you're her type anyway, but the lack of sleep isn't helping!" Jack said down the stairs to Yusei, who glared angrily and resumed his work irritably. "Me like Hinagiku? Ridiculous. I'm going back to bed!" Jack muttered to himself as he exited the garage, leaving Yusei alone.

" Not her type he says! Whatever Jack Atlas!" Yusei thought to himself crossly. He stopped taking marks and threw down his tools on the hard concrete. He knew Jack was just joking, being a spaz as usual, but Yusei could help but wonder if Aki had any feelings for him at all. He didn't exactly know how he felt, but he could tell his heart had a place for the girl. All the alone time Yusei had spent with her at runner training had strengthened his love for the psychic duelist as well. Yusei sighed and grabbed his screwdriver. He didn't have time to think about this; he had work to do. He and Aki were good friends. If they … meant to be together, then things would set themselves in place. He hoped.

Meanwhile, upstairs, Crow had lead Hinagiku up to his rooms' door. "Here we are," he stated as he pushed open the entrance and escorted Hina inside of his simple, Crowish living space. Hina smiled, closed the door behind her and took a deep breath. "Right! So I'm pretty sure there's a cot upstairs in the attic. You can have my bed and I'll take that instead. Can't have a lady sleeping on anything less than perfe… Hina? What are you doing?" the ginger asked, turning to see her inhaling deeply. Hinagiku smiled and held her hands out.

"The scent. This room smells like you; like that cologne that you'd wear when you were with me. I've missed this…this scent," she declared softly. Crow set down her duffel bag and took Hinagikus' hands in his own.

"I've missed you so much, Hina," he spoke softly as Crow pulled his lover to his chest. Hinagiku pressed her lips on his neck, lightly kissing him before quietly whispering his name. Crow placed an arm under the girls' legs, lifting her in the air, then laying her on his bed. "For the record, I've been waiting for you all this time. I haven't been with any other woman, because they could never… never replace you. Just so you know." Hinagiku smiled and pulled Crow in for a soft, drawn out kiss. When they released, Crow couldn't help but chuckle, commenting, "Seems you haven' t lost your touch, huh?'

"Of course not," she replied.

The red head laughed again, turning around towards the door. "I'd better get that cot. You get comfy. I'll be back!" he said to her.

"Fine. But if you get chilly or have a bad dream one of these nights…" Hinagiku began. "Then remember that you can always cuddle up with Hina till you feel better!" She winked at Crow, who was feeling a nosebleed coming on from the thought of Hinas' soft body pressed up against his. He smiled nervously and quickly got out of the room.

" I suddenly really love life," he thought happily to himself as he made his way to the attic stairs. A very angry Jack Atlas rushed past him and stomped into his room, slamming his door shut. "What's his problem?" Crow wondered as he began to climb the ring ladder to the attic. "Whatev."

Jack threw himself on his bed, burying his head into his duck feather pillow then rolled over on his back and stared at the ceiling. Yusei's comment had really gotten under Jacks' skin. Jack had no reason to ever be jealous of Crow…but at the same time, he couldn't deny he had had feelings for Hinagiku. She was pretty, so cute and innocent, and something about that turned Jack on. Oddly enough. But he was Jack Atlas right? He had women all over the place! Carly, Mina, that girl at the coffee shop; they were all his fans and loved him! So why was he suddenly thinking of Hinagiku? Jack sat up and slunk off his bed. He walked over to his dresser, pulling out his clothes and a towel. A nice hot shower and some Blue Eyes Mountain Coffee would make him feel much better, especially if he paid with money from Yusei's secret stash!(**XD**) A little bit of leisure would allow him to clear his head and unwind. There was no way he was going to let one little comment stress him out! Hinagiku was Jacks' friend, nothing more nothing less, and it should stay that way…

Moments after Jack had entered the shower, the smell of toast and eggs had drawn Hinagiku out of Crows' room and down to the kitchen, where she found Yusei, who had put on a plain white, slightly transparent tee, cooking. He looked over his shoulder at her and smiled. "Hungry? Breakfast is coming up soon!" he told her as he pointed to the worn couch. "You can just chill on the couch if you don't mind waiting a couple minutes for some food. The remote's next to my phone if you wanna watch TV." Hinagiku thanked the raven hair and went over the couch, sitting down gingerly and looking down at the coffee table. She picked up the remote, clicking on the television, and looked peculiarly at the screen.

"Hey Yusei! Was someone watching a Care Bears marathon? That's what the Tv's set to!" Hina laughed. Yusei shrugged nervously, knowing it would seem **really** manly if said he and Crow were watching that earlier and gave a quick "I dunno". Hina nodded and surfed the channels to a turbo duel, that had just stopped for commercials. Hina sighed as skinny women and men on steroids jumped around the tv showing the effects of a slimming, muscle building pill. Bored of the ad, she looked down at Yusei's phone curiously. It wasn't as tech as some of the phones she'd seen the people in the city carrying, but it was still a nice phone, sporting a shiny touch screen and a blue exterior. Hinagiku picked up the lightweight mobe in her hands to get a closer look at the cases' design, causing her to accidentally hit the screen and unlock the phone. Hinagiku gasped, then giggled as she glanced at the wallpaper. "Hey Yus?" Yusei looked up from the frying pan he held over the stove and turned his head.

"Yes Hinagiku?"

"Who this cute girl in the picture with you? Is that your girlfriend?" she asked Yusei as she held up his phone. Yusei almost dropped the pan of eggs as his face went blank and his cheeks turned a bright red colour.

"Um…that's' Aki… uh Akiza Izayoi. My…friend," He answered shyly. Yusei set the pan on the stove and sat next to her. "She…got her turbo license a couple weeks ago. And we took that picture…as a memento." Yusei wrung his hands uneasily.

Hinagiku smiled, quite amused at Yusei's embarrassed state. He'd always acted like the ultimate tough guy, calm, unfazed and emotionless, but Hinagiku knew he had a shy side when it came to the ladies. Of course, Jack and Crow had never noticed it , but often Yusei had confided in her with his feelings for the local girls he found cute. "I see," Hinagiku answered. " She has a really nice quality runner, and just from the exterior I can see that Yusei Fudo touch. You made a bike?" Yusei nodded. "How nice of you. You must really like her!" she told Yusei, who put his feet up on the coffee table, closing his eyes, and lay back into the soft couch. "So how'd you meet up with this girl?" Hinagiku asked. "You know you wanna tell me everything!" she added with a smile.

Yusei laughed a little, realizing that there was no avoiding answering the inquisitive pinkettes' question. "Well you see, I met Akiza when I entered a duel tournament called the Fortune Cup. She was a very well trained duelist, beautiful, and always seemed to win her battles. You'd think she'd be a popular duelist in New Domino, with lots of fans and all, but that wasn't the case," he began.

Hinagiku nodded. "Why wasn't she?"

"She's also a psychic duelist, someone who can make Duel Monsters materialize. She had a bit of a problem controlling her powers; the monsters would attack innocent people when she was upset, but everyone was too afraid of her to see Aki's sorrow. They called her a witch who enjoyed causing pain, but when I met her, I only saw a girl who wanted to be loved."

"So you helped her out?" Hinagiku asked, intrigued by his story.

Yusei nodded. "I helped her escape this place called the Arcadia Movement, then tried to show Akiza who she really was; a beautiful young woman with a really kind heart. We went through a lot together and have saved each others' life a couple times. Now, Akiza lives a calmer, happier life. Her powers are under control, she's the most popular girl at her school and she's an important member of our team, the Signers," Yusei finished. Hinagiku smiled.

"It seems like you two have a strong history together. But how do you really feel about her? Do you…like her…like that?" Hinagiku asked Yusei innocently as he blushed again and shrugged.

"Yeah. I guess I do. I mean, she's just so pretty. Beautiful really, especially when she smiles. And Aki is sweet and loveable but strong; she has a great personality. But," Yusei stopped and clenched his hands together as he looked down at the floor. "But I don't think she'd want a guy like me. Aki's family is super rich and she's gorgeous enough to get any man she wants. I'm barely making it over the poverty line, struggling to maintain my job and my responsibilities, and I'm not exactly the most attractive man out there," Yusei finished.

Hinagiku gazed over at her solemn friend, placing and arm around his shoulder. Yusei lay his head lightly on Hinagiku and sighed despondently. "Yus?" Hina said quietly to the head signer. He glanced up at her. She smiled a little and whispered, " There's no way that a cute guy like you doesn't make her heart skip. If you really saved Akiza from such a horrible life, then you must have a strong place in her heart too. Just be patient, don't rush into anything romantic and let things play out. She likes you. Trust me. I'm a girl. I know these things."

Yusei chuckled and smiled a bit. "Ok. I'll do that. Thanks!" Hinagiku nodded. Yusei stood up from the couch. "You should meet her, Hinagiku. She'll probably stop by after her classes with Rua and Ruka, a pair of twins who are also my really close friends. Rua's really energetic but protective of his buds and Ruka can see Duel Spirits like you can. You'd like them."

Hinagiku smiled and stood up next to Yusei, then pushed him towards the shower. "You should ready for your day! Take a nice shower and get dressed; you need to look good for your Akiza friend! Kay?" Yusei laughed and walked over to the bathroom with a "Yes Maam!" Hinagiku giggled. She walked over to the stove and looked down sadly at the horribly burnt eggs Yusei had forgotten. Her stomach growled. Oh well. So much for breakfast.

"What smells like smoke down here?" a voice called out as a figure made his way down the metal ladder. Hinagiku smiled and ran to the ginger as he stepped down on the kitchen tiles.

"Breakfast. Yusei disregarded he was cooking. He was telling me about some girl named Akiza," Hinagiku explained as Crow wrapped his arm around his hips.

"Of course! Geez he's lovesick. Anyway, I'll go into town and get you some food myself." He looked around. "Where is Yusei at anyhow?" Hinagiku pointed to the showers and Crow grinned evilly. "Yusei's gonna be so pissed!"

"Why?" the pinkette asked. Crow chuckled, put a finger to her lips and waited.

"Holy crap! Oh my gosh! Why is this water is so freaking COLD! Crap shoot!" Yusei's voice cried out loudly and suddenly.

Crow snickered and Hinagiku burst in laughter. "Jack showered first. Bad move to shower right now; that guy can't bathe without using all the water. Man, Yusei sure hates cold water!"

**Ariyuki**- Tee hee! Poor Yusei!

* Yusei walks in with a towel wrapped around his torso, shivering*

**Yusei**- WHERE IS JACK ATLAS?

**Kurama**- Just missed him. He borrowed some of your cash and set off for that coffee place… Sorry.

**Yusei**- Grrrr… First he steals the hot water, now he steals my money! He is going to pay!

*Yusei stomps off angrily*

**Kurama**- Well that's it for Chapter Three! Hope you enjoyed it! PLEASE REVIEW! Let us know what you think!

**Ariyuki**- Thanks a bunch!

Next Chapter: Breaking Through His Shell


	4. Breaking Through His Shell

**Ariyuki**- Wow! It's Chapter Four already! I can't believe it!

**Kurama**- Thanks to everyone who's stuck with the story so far! Sorry it's kinda(really) late…Ari had writers' block. Plus, Ari and I were going to type on the 19th, after we watched the Yugioh 3d movie, but it was conveniently NOT AVAILABLE IN ANY OF THE STORES THAT SAID THEY'D HAVE IT! I HATE WALMART! So yah, that was discouraging. Grr…

**Ariyuki**- So, this chapter, I'd like to introduce Akiza, Rua and Ruka to Hinagiku's story. It took a few tries to decide how they would enter the plot, but I finally picked one. Hopefully it will be a great, well written chapter! Also, a new shipping will be added to the story, Justiceshipping (Jack X Hinagiku), because Jack does have some feelings for Hina. Sorta.

**Kurama**- Ari and I would just like to put a big thank you out there for our reviewers, teenytiny111 and TLoZfantic44! We're so glad you are enjoying the story! Thanks for the complements on Ari's writing techniques and such; We hope to maintain a high standard of writing for you and anyone else who is following the story! Remember, reviews are the spice of a fanficters life and keep them motivated to write, so keep on reviewing! =^-^=

**Ariyuki**- I'd just like to quickly mention, in case anyone was wondering, this story takes place right after Akiza gets her license but before Bruno shows up at Poppo Time. I haven't decided if he'll be a part of my story, but if he is, I may make a few changes from the show so he can fit into my story line. If you guys want to see Bruno, or have a suggestion, let me know!

**Jack**-Hey! I should do the disclaimer this time because I have a significant role in the chapter!

**Crow**- Why the heck would Ari let you do that?

**Jack-** Because I'm Jack Atlas!

**Kurama**- I really don't think that's a good idea…

**Ariyuki**- Just let him do it. If he's happy, we could avoid a fight…for once.

**Kurama**- Kay. Go for it Jack.

**Jack**- Right! Ariyuki does not own Yugioh 5ds, Yugioh World Championship 2010 or a stupid character like Crow Hogan. She does own Hinagiku, the fifth member of Team SATISFACTION and wishes she owned the perfect, attractive Jack Atlas!

**Kurama**- So you wanted to do the disclaimer to bash Crow…and brag about yourself… Nice.

**Crow**- Why you!

**Ariyuki**- Here's the Chapter before the guys start fighting!

Chapter Four- Breaking Through His Shell

Yusei Fudo grumbled as he stepped out of the apartment bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist and cold water dripping from his hair down his back and tan chest. He really wished he had waited to take his shower; it was obvious that Jack had gone before him and used every drop of warm water. The raven haired signer sighed heavily as he made his way up the slippery metal ladder to the third floor. The floorboards creaked nosily as Yusei's bare feet hit the ground and he made his way to his room. The house was silent; Yusei assumed Jack was getting coffee and Crow and Hina had probably gone out to the city. Yusei couldn't deny was nice to be by himself for a few minutes; the house was always hectic in the morning, so this was a good change. He stepped into his room and grabbed a gray remote off his night stand, clicking a few buttons that turned on his radio he'd built from scratch. The head signer set the tuning to a soft jazz station, then exchanged his towel for a pair of red boxers from his drawer. Yusei grabbed his characteristic clothes, a blue jacket, black muscle shirt, blue jeans and brown gloves, from his neatly packed closet and began to dress. The song on the radio ended as Yusei slipped on the last glove and the clock on the Poppo Time garage struck nine. "Well then," Yusei said as he clicked off the radio and exited his room. "Time to get to work. Let's see my orders for today." The raven ruffled his hair a little so it would dry faster and moved swiftly down the ladders and stairs to his workshop, the garage. Crow and Hinagikus' runners were still standing next to his. "I guess they walked," Yusei thought to himself as he walked to his work station. He sat at his desk and turned on a computer, then logged on to his web mail browser. A new message had popped up.

_To Fudo Yusei:_

_My extremely intelligent son has once again tried improving his runners' engine, resulting in it breaking. I have no clue what's wrong with it or how to fix it. Care to help? You should know where I live by now from all the repairs you've already done. Come by some time after eight thirty when my son is at class; he'd hate to know that someone else was fixing his runner._

_ Naomi Fujiwara_

Yusei chuckled slightly; this was going to be one of his more enjoyed visits. Fujiwara-san's son had a really bad knack of breaking his runner, so Yusei was often at flat, which lay in the center of the Tops, secretly fixing mistakes before he got home. Fujiwara-san was a relatively pleasant customer and often paid more than he asked for. However, it was always an awkward trip, for even after the connection of Satellite and New Domino, not everyone in the neighborhood was keen on his appearance. Plus, the criminal mark didn't help his cause. Still, business was business and Yusei knew he should hurry over as to not keep Fujiwara-san waiting. The head signer grabbed his toolbox, which he kept under his computer table and slung it over his shoulder. Yusei dug through his jean pockets, finally pulling out a set of keys and opened up his runners trunk, which lay under a panel beneath his seat. He dropped the toolbox in the trunk and grabbed his helmet of the runner handle. The cool, scarlet helm slipped on his head comfortably, slightly crushing the ravens' black and yellow spikes as Yusei sat on his runner and pulled the side arm down. "Right! Time for work!" Yusei thought to himself. He clicked on his runner and revved the well tuned engine; the raven took a moment to enjoy the feeling of the powerful energy. With a sigh, Yusei lifted up his feet, revving one last time, and took off speedily out of the garage. Little did he know, he had just received one more email…

Moments after Yusei left for his job in the Tops, two, happily full lovers made their way, hand in hand, down the quiet and sunny boulevard that led to Poppo Time Garage. "Yum! What a great breakfast! Nice place too! I feel like I haven't eaten in years, literally and figuratively speaking!" Hinagiku declared happily as she squeezed Crows' strong hand and leant up against his shoulder. Crow smiled, brushing a few pieces of ginger hair out of his eyes and kissed his pinkettes' cheek lightly, chuckling, "Hey! We don't know that yet. Maybe you were on some sort crazy cardboard diet! Those bastards who kidnapped you could have been health freaks." Hinagiku smirked and pinched Crows' cheek. " What's that supposed to mean? Am I that scrawny?" The ginger laughed, letting go of Hinagikus' hand and placing his hands around her bare waist.

"No way. You're a perfectly beautiful size, " the ginger complemented as he pulled the pinkette in for a kiss. Hinagiku blushed lightly and leant in, choosing accepting Crows' lips. The signers' arms went limp around his lovers' hips as the sensation of Hinas' kiss rushed through his whole body. It was worth the wait to stay single all these years; having Hinagiku near him made Crow feel incredible. "Wow. You have no idea how much I've missed that," he said, panting slightly as they broke away. Hinagiku glanced up happily at Crow, taking his hand one again.

"Sorry to keep you waiting. I'm so glad you did though. I'll have to make it up to you…somehow. Maybe tonight for starters?" Hinagiku asked, winking. Crow turned beet red. She couldn't…be implying that she wanted…that she wanted them to have… Crows' head was spinning as he thought. Was she serious? Was that what she wanted? Was he ready for that? Hinagiku looked at the ginger, puzzled. "What's with that serious blush? I was just gonna cook dinner. You said you work long hours, so I thought you'd just be too tired to do it yourself. What were you thinking?…OH! Geez, Crow! You know that's not at all what I meant!" Crow sighed a little; as much as making love with Hina sounded awesome, he definitely wanted to wait. Hinagiku slapped her forehead and shook it playfully. "Sheesh!"

"Oh crap!" Crow suddenly exclaimed. Hinagiku looked up at him, asking what was wrong. "Work! I have to be there by ten! Shoot!" he responded loudly. Crow grabbed Hinagikus' hand and ran, dragging her with him to the garage. The ginger fumbled around in his pocket for the apartment key and quickly unlocked and opened the door. The two ran over to the duel runner, Blackbird, and Crow turned on its engine . "Hina, I hate to leave you alone but my boss is a total jerk. If I was late, I might lose my job," Crow explained as he jumped onto the bike and sat down. "Do you wanna come with me or are you gonna be okay?"

Hinagiku nodded her head. "Don't worry, I'll be fine. You get on to work. I'll see you when you get home!" she told him.

"Thanks Hina! Jack should come home eventually. You two could hang I guess, but if he annoys you, let me know and I'll beat the crap out of him!" Crow replied as he clicked open the garage door and drove off. Hinagiku waved until the gate had fallen back down to the ground. "Well, looks like I'm alone, huh?" the pinkette thought to herself; she had looked around the garage and noticed Yusei's runner was gone. Hinagiku sighed.

"Okay. Until Jack gets back, I should do something productive… I've got it!" she snapped her fingers and trotted over to Yusei's desk, grabbing a random screwdriver. "I'll work on Nezima!" Hinagiku walked over to Nezima, the nickname she had given to her duel runner, Kaminari Tarunezima (translation- Thunder Tarunezima). The bike was a bright, neon orange colour with burgundy stripes along the sides, golden handles and a black duel board interface. The side arms were yellow, but had dark, wing like attachments and the back turbo thruster was dark burgundy. Hinagiku knelt next to the runner and began to check the tightness of her tires; she wasn't a mega mechanic like Yus, but the raven duelist had taught her a thing or two about runner maintenance.

"The front is fine but back wheel is slightly loose. You should fix that first, Giku." Hinagiku looked up over her shoulder from the noise, then smiled and looked back down.

"Thanks Legend," she said to the shadowy figure who floated behind her back, a tall man with long, reddish orange hair, silver eyes and lightly tanned skin wearing sparkling silvery armor; the spirit of Gilford the Legend. From the time Hinagiku had begun dueling, she had been able to see the souls of the cards she wielded. The clearest soul she saw and could speak to as a spirit ally lay inside the warrior of legend, who's appearance in duels had always secured her victory. He was her absolute favourite card and Hinagiku added him into all of the decks she built, despite if he fit the theme or not.

"Hm," Gilford responded as he plopped down on Hinagikus' shoulder. "I'm glad you found the boys. I believe they will be of great help in finding out your past. They are diligent people; they will work hard for you. " Hinagiku nodded.

"I know I'll need your help too. You and I are gonna have some intense duels, I can feel it!" she said as she began to tighten the back wheel. "We'll fight together." Gilford smiled and hummed in agreement. Hinagiku grinned back as the spirit faded away back into her deck, which lay in one of her skirt pockets. She sighed deeply. "Yusei. Jack. Crow. Legend. With a crew like this, there's no way I won't find the memories I'm searching for…"

Jacks' white runner skidded with the pavement as he drifted another corner and made his way onto the main thruway. After leaving the apartment, the king had visited his favourite break spot, the lux and very pricey coffee shop that carried his special blend, Blue Eyes Mountain Coffee. Once he'd filled up on a cup of Joe and a plate of biscuits, Jack had hit the road, taking a little time to breathe the fresh air. The New Domino breezes brushed past his cheeks and through his golden locks as Jack accelerated across the pavement and the water below his path, a bridged road, was lit up by the bright midday sun. The turbo duelist sighed deeply.

At times like this, he felt a bit bad about enjoying himself while his brothers slaved away, however, he had tried his luck at working jobs and …they just weren't his style. On the other hand, Jack Atlas was not at all worthless; with his roomates always roaming the city, working hard jobs and crazy hours, there was no one else to maintain the home. Secretly, Jack had done _a bit_ of sprucing up around the apartment (he was on a first name basis with the Swifter and Lysol bottles) and had helped the fridge and pantry restock themselves… The guys didn't need to know that.

The golden haired signer glanced down at the clock on his runners' duel interface , which read eleven forty-two. "I've been out for a while… I should probably head home. Its' about lunchtime and a Noodles To Gogo would taste great right about now," Jack thought to himself as he switched lanes and turned toward home. Truthfully, Jack dreaded his arrival to Poppo Time Garage each afternoon; for someone who survived on attention and company, the silently and empty flat was not a favourite destination. Sadly, the next few hours of solitude were unavoidable; Yusei was out doing repairs for frequently snobby Tops customers who couldn't stand paying minimum wage, and Crow was riding round the city, doing deliveries for a miserable lug who he called boss. There was no one else at home for him to spend time with… Wait a minute! Jacks' purple eyes lit up. Hinagiku! If Yusei and Crow were at work, then she probably stayed behind. Jacks' runner sped up a bit, as if it was as eager as its rider to get home. Perhaps Jack should grab a few extra ramen cups before he got there; Hinagiku _was_ another mouth to feed…

"Unn… So bored!" Hinagiku cried out miserably as she sat, hugging her knees, on the worn but soft, apartment couch, watching…Care Bears.(**Authors' note: I have no real reason this show is on TV so much. Why is it so appealing to everyone in this house? IDK ^_^?**) Did the boys really have to work this long? The pinkette had run out of things to do; she had tweaked her runner about fifteen times, tested and retested the engine and cleaned every nook and cranny of painted metal till the bike sparkled. Hinagiku sighed deeply as she grabbed the remote from besides her and clicked off the TV. The pinkette stood up from the seat, readjusting her pale blue miniskirt and leggings, then walked over to the large living room window and glanced out at the cobblestone pathed courtyard below. The pinkette smiled. "Its' amazing that the guys have a place as nice as this. It's so pretty around here," Hinagiku marveled as she looked out of the clean glass at the ground below. Suddenly, Hina spotted a white duel runner with a _very _familiar rider slow down in front of the apartment and turn into the garage. "Finally! Jack's home!" The pinkette smiled brightly, leaving the window sill, and made her down the apartment stairwell, stopping mid-step when she spotted the blonde. Jack was dismounting his runner, a small plastic bag dangling from his arm and his blue and white helmet in his hand. "Jack!"

The signer looked up slowly and smirked a little. "Sheesh, they left you here all by yourself? Some gentlemen," he said sarcastically. Hinagiku chuckled a little, folding her arms as Jack set down his helm and walked up the stairs till his was standing next to his pink haired friend. "Hungry? I have lunch," he told her blankly. Hinagikus' blushed a bit as stomach grumbled loudly, then chuckled. Jack snickered back, "I'll take that as a yes." The two walked wordlessly back up the stairs and into the kitchen.

"Let me unload that for you," Hinagiku said as she began to pull the plastic bag from Jacks' arm. The blond grabbed Hinagikus' arm and jerked it away.

"What the duce do you think you're doing? I don't need you to do anything for me! I've got it," Jack retorted. "Go sit on the couch and relax while I make you some lunch!" Hinagiku sighed, a smile forming in the side of her mouth. It was funny how Jack had a way of being such a gentleman and a jerk at the same time. Jack Atlas glared, a blush forming on his cheeks as the pinkette wrapped herself on his arm. "What the blazes are you doing…" Hinagiku looked up at Jack, her hazel eyes wavering slightly.

"On second thought, lunch can wait. I've gotten to talk to Yusei and Crow alone, but I haven't had my heart to heart with you yet. Let's sit down," Hinagiku whispered softly. Jack bit his lip and nodded, setting the grocery bag on the kitchen counter, then the two moved over to the couch. Jack sat and put his feet up on the coffee table as Hinagiku plopped down next to him.

The blond signer cocked his head to face his friend. "So, what would you like to talk about?" he asked.

"Oh, I don't know. Anything really…For starters, I'd love to hear about just what my friends' has been doing for the years I've been gone. I saw a King of Riding Duels poster on the downstairs bulletin board near Yus's stuff. What's that all about?" Hinagiku asked curiously. Jack cringed, closing his eyes, and his shoulders slumped, which surprised Hinagiku a bit.

"I…came to New Domino after I was invited by a man named Rex Goodwin to become a dueling star. I won a few duels, gained some fans…that's all," Jack answered back briefly. "It doesn't really matter."

"Why not?" Hinagiku asked inquisitively. "When we were growing up, you always said that it was your dream to be the worlds' greatest duelist. You achieved it; what's so bad about that?"

"Because I didn't totally deserve it. I mean… I did some horrible things to get where I was. Believe it or not, I actually had an ego back then. I was selfish and didn't think clearly. In fact, I don't see how Yusei and Crow don't hate me being with them now," he responded back.

Hinagiku giggled in her head as she thought about a Jack Atlas without an ego, then swiveled her head and locked eyes with her older friend, a bit more seriously. "Why," she said. "…would the guys ever hate you? I mean, what's not to love about Jack Atlas?"

Jack blushed from the complement, but looked down at his lap in shame as he explained. "Well, let's see. I stole Yusei's Stardust Dragon, took a lot of money out of Crows' stash so I could afford a passport, then left the guys alone in the slums of Satellite while I enjoyed a lavish life in the Tops. I think that's a pretty good reason to hate someone," Jack answered back, in an ashamed tone. The blond began to stand up from the couch. "I'm gonna go start lunch now, it's almost 12:30. There's nothing else to say about my past. I don't give a crap anyways, so you shouldn't either," he told the pinkette harshly.

"No!" Hinagiku grabbed Jack arm and pulled, attempting to sit Jack back down.

"What the duce are you doing now? AHHH!" Jack yelled as the tug forced him to misstep; he tripped on his feet and fell back on the couch, landing on top of Hinagiku.

"Oww Jack! Why are you so heavy for a thin guy?" The blonde blushed vigorously when he noticed he lay on top of Hinagiku, their chests slammed against each other and one of his hands on her bare leg. He jumped up quickly and scooted to the other side of the couch.

"Gomen… Sorry!" Jack said nervously. Hinagiku laughed and moved closer to the embarrassed young man.

"Tee hee, that's okay Jack." she said between giggles. "Jack…" Hinagiku placed an arm on the signers shoulder and sighed. "You're not selfish." Jack gave the pinkette a confused look. She continued, "Everyone wants to be the best. Everyone wants their dreams to come true. Sometimes, people lose sight of their morals in the process. That's bound to happen to everybody, good and bad. Crow and Yusei know this too; they must have forgiven you if you're living here, right? One mistake doesn't totally tarnish a guys past either. Plus… I wouldn't call the guy who stood between me and men with guns, ready to die for his friends, selfish…"

Jacks' blush was slowly spreading all over his face and down his neck. "If I had a choice to go back in the past and face that situation again, I'd have done the same thing for you, Hinagiku. No regrets there…" The blond took his friends' hands in his own and pulled her to his strong chest.

"Jack…" Hinagiku said, embarrassed as she rested her head against the blond.

"Hinagiku… Yusei's always been your best friend and Crow's always going to be your love. Me? I'm your big brother and I'll never… let anything happen to you. Remember that," Jack told Hinagiku as he slid his hands down her hips and tightened his grip, pulling her close. Two stayed together silently. Jacks' legs slipped under Hinas', forcing her to sit in his lap.

"Jack… Please protect all of us like you've always have. We need you," Hinagiku said quietly. Jack nodded and let go of the pinkettes' waist, then took her face in his hands.

"I will, Hina…" Jack whispered as he kissed her forehead, causing her to blush. "I…I just wanted you to know that I…"

*Ding Dong*

"Oh, no wait! The door's open. Hey guys!" some voices cried from downstairs.

Jack let go of Hinagiku and jumped up from the couch, annoyed. "Who the duce is that?" he yelled. Jack growled as Hinagiku stood up as well and stood up next to him; he was sooooo mad that someone had just abruptly ruined his moment. Hinagiku giggled. "I'll get it Jack. You should, you know, start lunch?" He bit his lip and sighed defeatedly, then nodded and walked back to the kitchen. Hinagiku walked over to the stairwell door. "Hello?" she said as she pulled the doorknob.

"Yusei!" a voice cried out. Hinagiku opened the door all the way and came face to face with a tall, red haired girl and two, almost identical, mint green haired twins. The red head looked puzzledly at Hinagiku. "Not Yusei. Umm…"

Hinagikus' face lit up and she grabbed the other girls' hand. "Akiza Izayoi, Yusei's girl! Nice to meet you!"

Akiza scratched her cheek, puzzled, and the twins hid behind her long tailed jacket. Jack walked behind Hinagiku. "Oh, its you guys. Hey." The male twin cocked his head and eyed the other girl. "Who's that Jack?"

The pinkettes smiled and waved. "Nice to meet you Rua! And the other's Ruka right?" The young girl popped up from behind Akiza and stood next to her brother.

The pinkettes gave her characteristic military salute. "The name's Hinagiku!"

**Kurama**- So there's Chapter Four for yah! Hope you enjoyed it!

**Jack**- I'm mad at you Ari. You shouldn't have written in Akiza and the twins when I was having a romantic-ish moment.

**Ariyuki**-Sorry bro, it had to happen. Gotta keep the story going. Hopefully Crow won't find out about you kissing his girl.

**Jack**- It was just on the cheek! Gee whiz!

**Kurama**- Speak of the devil.

**Crow**- Hey guys! What's going on?

*Silence*

**Kurama**- Don't worry about it.

**Crow**- Okay? -_-'

**Ariyuki- **Thanks for reading and don't forget to review! Next chapter, the twins, Aki and Hinagiku will have some bonding time! Of course, something will probably go super wrong… Cuz I'm evil! Hahahaha! Maybe then I'll tell Akiza that Yusei has a crush on…

**Yusei**- Stop right there! *glares over at Ari angrily*

**Ariyuki**- ^o^

**Kurama**- Next chapter!- The New Bird in the Signer Flock


	5. The New Bird in The Signer Flock

**Ariyuki**- Ku, can you imagine we're at Chapter Five already? I can't believe we made it so far!

**Kurama**- You're telling me! Plus, when we started this story, we had no idea so many people would read and enjoy it! We're on a roll! *high fives Ari*

**Ariyuki**- Sorry that the chappie came a bit late, again. I finally found and saw the Yugioh 3d Movie online yesterday and got too pumped to type! I had a spaz attack like three times per minute cuz the movie was so cool! Thus, I was super distracted. I do have one thing to get off my chest before I start the story…

JADEN YUKI IS THE GREATEST, HOTTEST YUGIOH CHARACTER, OR ANIME CHARACTER FOR THAT MATTER, EVER! I 3 JADEN YUKI! JADEN YUKI! JADEN YUKI! JADEN YUKI!…I'm ok now!

**Kurama**- …I'm glad that's off your chest. A bit hurt that he's apparently cooler than me though…

**Ariyuki**- Sorry^-^". Luv ya but where do you think the Yuki in Ariyuki came from? How 'bout we say you guys are even?

**Kurama**- I guess that's better than nothing…

**Ariyuk**i-Anyway, a big thanks to everyone out there who's been following Hinagiku and the gang so far! A special thank you to my lovely new reviewers, Taeniaea, and OkamiNeko-chan and returning reviewers sammycrusinix and TLoZfantic44! This story has the most reviews of any story I've ever written! Thanks for the words of encouragement and I'm glad you guys find Hina and Crow super cute together; I do too! Thumbs up and cookies for you! Everybody, don't forget to review this chapter after you read it!

**Kurama**- So last chapter, Hinagiku, Akiza, Rua and Ruka finally came face to face. Everyone, including me, now has to wonder; will the four bond or will the others reject Hinagiku? Are we gonna see a clash or a friendship?

**Ariyuki-** Hmm. We'll just have to see, won't we? By the way, I have a vote to add Bruno to the mix, so if anyone else wants to see Bruno or has an idea for the story line, let me know!

**Crow**- Can I make a suggestion for where the story should go?

**Ariyuki**- Crow? Ummm…Ok?

**Crow**- Cool! So here's my idea! Everyone else leaves the story this chapter, and Hina and I have a super long and hot make out session for all the Guardshipping (CrowXHinagiku) fans out there!

**Kurama**-… -_-" We kinda have a plot to follow.

**Ariyuki**- Yeah, I can't just change the chapter now…Sorry.

**Crow**- It was just an idea… T^T

**Ariyuki**- Hey! I'm not saying you and Hina won't have some action later.

**Crow**- O.o Ariyuki doesn't own Yugioh 5ds or Yugioh World Championship 2010, but she does own Hinagiku the fifth member of Team SATISFACTION!

**Kurama**- What are you doing? It wasn't time for the disclaimer yet!

**Crow**- We need to hurry through the next few chapters to my make out scene! Ari! Start the chapter!

**Ariyuki-** Sigh… Here's Chapter Five!

Chapter Five- The New Bird in the Signer Flock

"Nice… to…um meet you, Hinagiku," Akiza Izayoi managed to stammer out as she stepped forward, away from the doorway. Rua and Ruka exchanged confused glances with each other from behind their older friend as the pinkette let go of Akizas' hand and placed her own hand on her hip. Hinagiku smirked, brushing some of her pink locks out of her eyes with the other hand.

"I get those looks you guys are giving me," she said, shaking a finger at them. "You're probably wondering how I know you and you don't know me. Am I right?" she asked the three in front of her, who nodded simultaneously. "I should explain myself. Why don't we all sit down? Jack, do you mind making some coffee?" Hinagiku yelled to her friend in the kitchen.

"Jack Atlas is served coffee, he doesn't serve coffee!" the blond snapped back, somewhat angrily. He was not in the greatest of moods, seeing as moments ago, he was alone with a lovely woman in his arms. Now, this woman was over with the _**early and uninvited **_guests in _**his**_ living room, while he was being restricted to the kitchen. Not as enjoyable…

"Jack?"

"Absolutely NOT!"

"Jack…Please? For me?" Hinagiku begged with puppy dog eyes and a pouted lip. Jack growled, a light red tinge to his cheeks, and grabbed a black kettle off the stove to fill with water; as much as he hated to wait on others, there was no way Jack Atlas could say no to a face like that. He mumbled a "Whatever" and turned on the stove "Thanks bro!"

Akiza stood amazed as Hinagiku sat on one end of the couch and the twins sat on the other. "No one ever tells Jack to do something and gets away with it! How does this girl have control over him?" she wondered to herself as she sat between Rua and Hinagiku. The pinkette turned to the others and cleared her throat.

"Okay, now that we're settled, I should begin. So you three know about the boys' past? How they were in a gang called Team Satisfaction?" Akiza and the twins nodded.

"Well, these guys were the toughest team in all of Satellite and in a short time, they had all struck up reputations for their immense skills; Yusei was the calm and brilliant strategist, who other gangs called Deathraven, Crow was the sneak attacker The Bullet, Jack, the brute strength Goldenfist and Kiryu, the cunning leader Bloodwolf. Everyone knew who they were, but what most didn't usually know was that there was one other member of Team Satisfaction, the hidden weapon Finalstrike That member was me," Hinagiku explained.

Rua looked over at the soft faced girl, perplexed. "You were in a gang? You don't look too strong to me," he stated bluntly as he crossed his arms.

"Don't be fooled by the appearance! I'm pretty tough!" Hinagiku answered back with a slight grin as she flexed a previously non-existent but now very apparent arm muscle. "You have to have physical strength and top notch duel skills to be a member of Satisfaction!"

The mint haired boys' eyes lit up slightly. "You're a duelist? We should have a duel! Can we?"

Ruka sighed and placed a hand over her brothers' mouth. " Stop asking questions and let her finish the story!" she told Rua, who shrugged his shoulders and glowered a little. "Sorry Hinagiku-san. All he thinks about is dueling… Rua doesn't always think sensibly," Ruka quickly apologized. Hinagiku shook her head.

" Just call me Hinagiku please! I don't need a formal title!" the pinkette notified the young teen, who nodded. Hinagiku turned to Rua. "That's great that you have such a strong duelists' spirit in you! I'd love to duel you anytime, Rua!"

The boy smiled. "She seems pretty cool; I guess she'd have to be to be teammates with Yusei, Jack and Crow… Plus she's a duelist! That's awesome. I wonder what kind of deck Hinagiku uses?" he though to himself.

Hinagiku placed a hand on Rukas' shoulder. " As for you, he probably acts so haphazardly because he knows his sister could easily protect him with such a large army of duel spirits! I wouldn't worry either." Ruka literally jumped off her seat at the startling comment.

"How do you…! How did you…! Can you really see my duel spirits?" the mint haired signer asked curiously.

"Of course! I have a duel spirit of my own, you know!" Hinagiku said happily. "Can't you see Legend behind me?" the pinkette asked as she pointed over her shoulder with her thumb.

Ruka glanced over at Hinagiku and gasped. "Oh wow! How did I not see that before? It's awesome!" the mint haired signer marveled as her eyes lit up happily. Ruka had never known anyone else who possessed a duel spirit before, let alone seen one so powerful; this "Legend" had to at least as strong as Ancient Fairy Dragon!

"Wow," Akiza said in awe, her hands clasped in the lap of her black skirt. "You're a duelist and you possess a duel spirit! You must be incredible!"

Hinagiku blushed lightly. "I wouldn't say incredible… Plus I heard that you were quite the accomplished duelist yourself. A powerful psychic and turbo duelist with a good heart and a large amass of skills. Or at least that's what Yusei said…" Akizas' cheeks went slightly red as she thought about her black haired "_friend" _.

"Yu…Yusei said that?" she stuttered, embarrassed. Hinagiku chuckled at the sight in front of her; it seemed that Yusei's crush was not at all one sided. Akiza was having a raging blushing fit from just hearing Yus's name… This could get interesting.

"That's what he said to me this morning. He's the one who told me a bit about you three," Hinagiku responded.

"Say… Hinagiku? Can I ask you a question?" Rua said as he unfolded his arms and placed them on his knees. Hinagiku nodded. "What are you doing here all of the sudden anyway? If you and the guys were so close, why haven't I ever seen you with them before today?" the male twin inquired.

"A legit question! You see, a few years ago, when I was hanging with the guys, a strange group of men attacked me. They beat the crap out of Yusei and Jack, who tried to help me escape, then shot Crow multiple times and threatened to kill him because he wouldn't give me up to them. It…it was awful. I couldn't bear seeing my friends get hurt anymore. I mean, Crow was practically knocked out cold from all the bullet wounds, Jack was ready to sacrifice his life to save the rest of us, and Yusei was such a bloody mess, I wasn't sure he would live, even if we somehow escaped."

Akizas' heart nearly skipped a beat at the thought of Yusei in such pain. "How awful... Why is it that such a great guy has suffered so much? "she thought to herself. The red haired signer shuttered slightly at a new and disturbing thought; if Yusei had died, where would that have left her? Still living under Divines' hand at the Arcadia Movement? What a terrible fate that would have been…

"I had to stop my friends' pain," Hinagiku continued."…so I agreed to go with my attackers, with the assurance that they would leave the others alive. That…that was all I ended up being able to do for my closest friends…"

Akiza eyes wavered sadly. "That's horrible Hinagiku… I'm so sorry something like that happened! What…did they do to you?"

"That's just it! I haven't a memory of the last few years! When I awoke in Satellite a couple days ago, I had no clue where I was or what I was doing there. So long story short, I made my way here, and the guys and I have vowed to figure out my past and get revenge on the jerks that hurt my friends!" Hinagiku balled her hands into fists and bit her lip. "They can't hurt my friends like that. Crow, Yusei and Jack are the only family I have, being an orphan … They have to pay," the pinkette said softly, her hazel eyes tearing up a bit. She looked up at Akiza and the twins. "I know this story seems farfetched, but you have to trust me! It's all true and I intend to right the wrongs that have been done! "Hinagiku choked out. Akiza wrapped an arm around her new friend and pulled her in for a hug.

"Hinagiku… I believe you. If there's ever anyway I can help, let me know and I will. If Yusei and the others trust you, then I do too. I think Rua and Ruka will agree that the four of us will become close friends as well. All of us, Yusei, Jack, Crow, myself and the twins, share a close bond with each other and the more people who join us, the stronger our bond becomes. Yusei taught me that…"

Akiza turned to Ruka. "Let's show her the mark," the red head told her young friend as she slipped a black, fingerless glove, revealing a strange tattoo on her right arm. pushed up the sleeve of her Duel Academy uniform, showing another right arm mark. Hinagiku looked at the red patterns curiously.

"What are those?"

"These," Akiza explained. "…are the marks of the Crimson Dragon, who's sort of like a giant duel spirit. Those who bear these marks are called signers."

"These marks connect all of the signers; when one member feels pain, everyone does. When one's in danger, everyone knows. That's the power of our bond," Ruka continued.

"And you can still be a signer even without the mark. I don't have one and Crow didn't until recently, but I still consider myself to be a signer because I know could trust any of them to fight along side me when things get rough. Each person trusts everyone else… You should be a signer too! We could always use another strong teammate, " Rua finished. He got out of his seat on the couch, walked over to Hinagiku and gave the pinkette a hug. "Besides, I want a cool person like you to be around all the time to duel!" the mint haired ended with a smile. Hinagiku hugged Rua back. "Thank you, Rua," she said to him happily. "I'd…love to be a signer! That way I can protect my friends!"

"Great, a friendship speech. There is no way I'm sticking around any longer; here's your bloody coffee!" a voice interjected abruptly.

Hinagiku looked up at her blond friend, who set a kettle of black coffee and a stack of porcelain cups on the table, and laughed, "Oh come on Jack! You're a part of this little friendship circle too! Why don't you sit and chat with us? I'll move over," the pinkette offered with a smile. Jack glared.

"I'm totally fine! Jack Atlas has better things to do than sit around and talk," he retorted as he crossed his arms. Hinagiku giggled.

"Okay Jack, but if you get lonely, you can join us down here! I'd love it if you changed your mind!" she finished as she winked at the blond. Jack blushed profusely, which made his angry stare much less convincing, and stomped over to the ladder.

"If you need something, don't call me! I'm going to go do something extremely important now and don't need to be bothered!" he yelled over his shoulder, as Jack climbed up the ladder to the second floor. Rua looked up at Hinagiku, who filled one of the cups, amazed.

"You sure rattled him."

Hinagiku took a sip, then giggled. "It's easy to do when the person your teasing is as predictable as Jack; I know how he would react to pretty much anything by now! I love the guy though; if I was ever in danger he'd be there to protect me. Plus, he makes really good coffee….Oh man! I should have teased him later; I needed to know what time koi was coming home!" Akiza filled another cup, then gave Hinagiku a puzzled look.

"Koi? You mean… your boyfriend?"

"Yah. Funny, I never actually call him that… Anyway, I promised him he'd have dinner cooked when he got home from work. I'd like to know when he pops in so I have enough time to make him and the others something special for supper beforehand!" Hinagiku informed the red haired signer, who smiled nervously at the pinkette.

"Is he… um your koi… is that… Yusei?" Akiza asked as her cheeks turned a deep shade of red and she looked down, worried. The crimson haired signer knew that Yusei was often out working around this time, so, was Hinagiku referring to him as her… koi? " I mean, you have talked about him quite a bit…" she said, a bit incoherently . Hinagiku suddenly burst into a fit of uncontrollable laughter, which all but surprised Akiza and the twins. "What's so funny?"

The pinkette wiped a tear away from her eye, still giggling copiously. "S…sorry! It's just that you suggested Yus and I were dating! Sure, the guy has a models' figure, pleasingly rock hard abs and is super cute when he's asleep, but Yus is my best friend, not my lover! Trust me; I know Yusei's type; it's one of the many things I've grilled him about it before. And he knows mine, because I told him. All and all, neither of us fit each others' bill," Hinagiku explained. She had to restrain herself not to say, "Akiza on the other hand, matches Yusei's perfectly!"

In her mind, Akiza had taken a sigh of relief; she had no clue how she'd feel if Yusei had or got a girlfriend. It was certainly true that Hinagiku was an _extremely_ nice girl for him to date, and that she and Yusei had never actually gone on a _real _date, but it was comforting to know he was still, to her knowledge, single. "Wait," she said. "So then, who are you dating?"

Hinagiku gave Akiza a dumbfounded look. "Um, the only guy that hasn't been mentioned? Isn't it obvious?" The red head look at the twins and the three pondered. Ruas' eyes suddenly widened.

"You…are dating…Crow?" Hinagiku smiled. "And you mean Crow, as in, Crow Hogan Crow? Seriously?"

"Bingo!" Akiza and Ruka looked at each other in disbelief. Hinagiku sighed and asked, "What's that look mean?" A sweat drop fell over the other threes' heads.

"Sorry. It…It's just we didn't think two people who were so different could be lovers…" Akiza attempted to explain. The pinkette laughed and placed a hand on Akizas' shoulder.

"It's like I said earlier! Don't let appearances fool you. Sure, Crow may have a wild hairstyle and a couple criminal marks here and there, but deep inside, he's sweet and gentle and loveable and strong and protective and I love him so much because he's also funny and generous and sexily handsome and such a great kisser and…"

"Hinagiku, I think we get it," Akiza butted in, waking the pinkette from her fantasy daze.

Hinagiku blushed profusely, a bit embarrassed, and quickly apologized, "Sorry! It's just when I talk about Crow and how great he is, I start to ramble on… He does the same thing. If there's one thing I believe, its' that love knows no boundaries. Crow and I may seem different but if there's one common trait we share, it's that we love each other unconditionally. So, I just can't help myself sometimes!"

Akiza smiled at the pinkette, who grinned back. "That's a great way to look at it. We all know Crows' a great guy. I'm sorry for stereo typing him; I've always thought he'd like a… bad girl or something, but it's awesome that you two are together happily! You're a really nice person; he's lucky!"

"Thanks Akiza!" Hinagiku replied cheerfully. The three girls grinned at each other, while Rua attempted not to get sick from all the romance talk. The mint haired boy made a gagging sound and turned to the others with a request. "Can we PLEASE change the subject before I puke from all the lovey doveyness?"

Hinagiku laughed. "Sure, Rua. I guess you're just not at that age where you care yet, huh?"

"What's that supposed to mean? Oh, never mind!" the male twin pouted.

"Well Hinagiku…" Ruka said, breaking the silence as she looked over at the pinkette curiously. " I have a question about earlier; how do you know what Yusei looks like when he sleeps? I'm sorry, but that's sort of a strange thing to know about someone…No offense, of course!" she said innocently. Hinagiku smiled at the adorable preteen.

"None taken. Well let's see, how do I explain this?…The success of Team Satisfaction taking control of Satellite earned us quite a few enemies, who could and often would ambush us while we rested. This required us to have two of the five of us on stake out when the rest of the gang slept. Crow and Jack would usually take one shift, Yusei and Kiryu the next day, Crow and Yusei the subsequent day, and Yusei and I the fourth day in the cycle; Yusei, being the official insomniac of Team Satisfaction, could take multiple shifts without being too tired."

"Most of the time, we were lucky enough for nothing to happen during our turn. _However_, it got awfully boring sitting for up to six hours with nothing to do but watch for a non existent attacker. I couldn't even talk to Yusei because after seventy-two plus hours without sleep, even insomniacs can become tired and he'd pass out about halfway through the night."

"So, after a few shifts, I noticed something peculiar. Yus slept the exact same, strange way every night. It was on accident that I discovered this, of course; during my watch time, my eyes drifted in his direction once and a while. I thought it was just a coincidence at first, but sure enough, when I started paying more attention, it was obvious that Yusei Fudo napped the identical way every time he rested. And the way he does is just kind of funny! It's like this…"

Hinagiku moved toward the far end of the couch and lay down. She rolled onto one side, pulled one knee to her chest and stretched the other leg out, careful not to hit the observers across from her. The pinkette pulled her left arm into her chest, her hand to her mouth and bit down on the tip of her thumb. She had the other arm dangling of to the side of the sofa bed and then…

"Unn… I get…it the overdrive's gotta…gotta be lower…lemme unscrew the lid…so I…can get to the processor…*snore* hard drive…" Hinagiku mumbled as she moved her right hand to her pocket, grabbing an imaginary screwdriver, and began to twist her hand into a pillow. Akiza couldn't help it; she immediately burst into laughter and was soon followed by Rua and Ruka.

"Yusei works in his sleep?" Akiza asked between laughs. "Seriously? That's so like him!"

"Aww!" Ruka joined in. "That's so cute! He sucks his thumb too? That's adorable!"

Rua couldn't even add his two cents to the conversation because he was already dying from uncontrolled laughter.

Hinagiku, amused by her viewers reactions, suddenly flailed both arms in the air like a maniac. "Oh shoot! I…the wrong code… mainframe…crashing! The systems overheating! It's gonna… It's gonna blow!" Akiza clutched her stomach, Ruka couldn't keep up with the all tears flowing down her face and Rua fell to the ground laughing. Hinagiku opened her eyes and sat up. "And that's when Yusei wakes up!"

Akiza forced herself to stop laughing and choked out, "Oh my gosh that's funny! Wow, if only Yusei was here!" Suddenly, the four were startled by the sound of an vehicle rush into the garage and park. Akiza looked at Hinagiku. "Could that be?"

"Maybe. Talk about timing!" They all went silent and listened as the person made their way up the creaky stairs and to the door. As they watched the door open, a voice was heard muttering behind it. "What a long freaking house call! I swear, I don't even know how I fixed that runner engine. That crazy kid needs to stop trying to enhance it; removing an exhaust valve doesn't constitute as enhancing anything. Still, I made 9000 yen, enough to pay at least half of rent this month…"

Yusei Fudo came in through the doorway, his muscle shirt off and in the crook of his arm, his cobalt jacket draped over his bare shoulders and a light layer of sweat and oil dripping from his chest. "Hey Yusei!" Hinagiku called out to the head signer, who looked up for a moment.

"Oh! Hey Hinagiku. Rua. Ruka. Aki… Wait, what?" Yusei did a double take; why were Akiza, Rua and Ruka here? Class couldn't have gotten out yet, it was only 13:07(in America, 1:07 PM)!

Akiza blushed copiously at the sight of Yusei shirtless, his bare skin glistening with sweat. Hinagiku was _so, so_ right about his abs; they were incredible. "Hi Yusei…" she managed to say. Yusei blushed back at Akiza, slightly embarrassed at his awkward entrance. Hinagiku looked over at Rua and Ruka and grinned; the three were using all their willpower not to laugh at the two pathetic lovebirds.

"Hello… Uh, what are you guys doing here so early?" Yusei asked.

Akiza cleared her throat and stammered, "Thi…This morning, I sent you an email about it; the twins and I have a half day at school today and tomorrow…for parent-teacher conferences and stuff."

"Oh! I didn't check any other emails besides my first house call. Sorry… I didn't see your runner downstairs, so I didn't think you guys were here," Yusei explained.

"We walked today."

"That makes more sense." He took off his jacket and slipped on the black and red undershirt. Hinagiku moved over a bit in the couch and Yusei sat down. "I guess you guys met Hinagiku?" Akiza and the twins nodded.

"Yeah, we've been talking for a little while," the pinkette explained. "In fact, we were just talking about you!" Yusei blinked and looked over at his friend curiously, who grinned evilly. The blackette gave Hinagiku a nervous look.

"Just what were you talking about?" he asked, twisting his hands a bit.

Hinagiku giggled a bit and looked over at the twins, then Akiza, who smirked back. "Oh, nothing really. Team Satisfaction, night shifts, etc. Don't worry about it!" she told him.

A sweat drop went down Yusei's forehead. "Why do I feel like it's a whole lot more than your saying?" he asked uneasily. Hinagiku laughed and pinched his cheek.

"Aww… Does Yusei think Hina told his friends something embarrassing?"

"Yes."

The pinkette chuckled; if only he knew! Akiza smiled at Hinagiku." You're so funny! Please say your going to hang around here after your memory mission is over!" Hinagiku nodded.

"Sure will! Of course, that actually depends on if the guys will let me stay…" Hinagiku said as she turned her head to Yusei, who nodded.

"Of course you can stay! You don't even need to ask! By the way, are you all settled away in in Crows' room? Meaning, is there anything you need me to get you to make you totally comfortable? Everything that's mine is yours here, and Crow is the same way, but others, _like Jack_, get a bit feral about their possessions. A word of advise, just don't touch his soap, his ramen or his coffee without him knowing; he will flip. " he explained.

Hinagiku chuckled, then took a moment to think. "Well, I have a few sets of clothing, my deck and phone and my wallet, which is surprisingly loaded, but that's it. Some of my own soap and shampoos would be nice. And I need some pjs, extra changes of outfits and other female stuff…However, I don't think it would look very good if you were buying women's clothes and female products, so I should probably take care of that myself." Yusei blushed lightly.

"I couldn't agree more there!" he said.

"I have an idea," Akiza added in. "Why don't Rua, Ruka and I take Hinagiku to the New Domino Mall right now? It's still pretty early in the day, so all the stores should be open. That way, you can get everything you'll need in one trip! We could take the hover metro; the station's not far from here." Hinagiku beamed at the thought, then set down her coffee and jumped off of the couch.

"That's an excellent idea Akiza! You guys wait for me downstairs, I'll be right down, just after I get my wallet!" Akiza, Rua and Ruka nodded simultaneously, stood up from the couch and walked over to and down the staircase to the garage.

Hinagiku waited till all three of them had gone, then grabbed Yusei's arm and began to drag him upstairs.

"What are you doing?" he asked inquisitively.

"We need to talk important stuff before I leave!" Hinagiku told him. Yusei, seeing no other alternative option, nodded and followed the pinkette upstairs to Crows' room. Hinagiku and Yusei stepped inside the dark space and the pinkette shut the door behind them. "There we go," she said as she walked over to the side of Crows' bed, where he had left her duffel and began to dig through, looking for her wallet. The pinkette pulled out a neon pink case, re-zipped the larger bag and then turned to Yusei. "I approve," she told him

"Ummm, Hinagiku?" Yusei said, a bit confused. "What are you talking about?" Hinagiku shook her head and sighed.

"I approve of Akiza! What else would I be talking about? After meeting this girl, I can tell she is a very good person and a great match for you; you aren't wrong to like her. And she's definitely your type; sweet but strong and independent, heart in the right place, etc. And I know you must love her upper rac…"

"Yeah, yeah. You got me," Yusei cut in, embarrassed, before she could finish her last statement. "I sure hope you didn't tell her… anything about how I feel."

"Of course not! You know I've kept all your secrets!" Hinagiku walked next to Yusei, who heaved a sigh, and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry about that… Besides the one to tell her your feelings will be you… perhaps at tomorrows' date?"

Yusei jumped back. "Hey whoa! Weren't you Ms's _Don't Rush The Romance_ this morning? You think I'm ready for a date? And what date are you even talking about?" the raven haired signer questioned, somewhat flustered.

"_First off_, I said perhaps at your date not definitely at your date. I'm not rushing anything. I'm saying that if you feel it, you could tell Akiza something. You don't even have to say I love you; you could just say something like, _I'm so glad we're close_ or _We need to spend time together again, this was fun_. Secondly, if you weren't such a dolt when it comes to love, you'd see that romantic opportunity knocked on your door not ten minutes ago!" Hinagiku exclaimed. Yusei, now more interested, looked his friend dead in the eye, a bit excited.

"It…it did? How? When? Did I miss my chance?" he asked her. Hinagiku smiled softly at Yusei and took his hand.

"She said she had a half day tomorrow. What you do is take her somewhere for the rest of the day. Keep it simple; take Akiza out for lunch or a stroll in the park. It's casual, it's cute and it's an impossible deal to turn down if she likes you."

"…that's…a good idea. I think I could actually do that!" Yusei admitted. Hinagiku grinned, letting go of her friends' hand , then turned toward the exit and opened Crows' door.

"Good to hear! After I'm done at the mall, I'll bring Akiza back here so you can talk to her. Just think about my idea!" She began to walk out of the room but stopped. "Oh! One other thing! What time does Crow get home today?"

Yusei took a moment to think. "It's Thursday, so… 19:30 ish?(7:30)"

"Cool! I'll be home by 18oclock! Oh, and Jack's in his room if you need him; let him know I said goodbye! Later!" And with that, Hinagiku took off, leaving the raven signer alone. Yusei lent up against one of the bedroom walls and slid down it with his back to the floor. He sighed, tucking his knees into his chest, and wrapped his arms around his legs. "Am I ready?" he thought to himself. "Am I really ready to ask Akiza…on a date?"

At the New Domino Mall, Hinagiku was having the time of her life. She'd been there for almost two hours( the amount of shopping bags on her arms made that apparent to everyone), but to her, it was like she'd just gotten there! Hinagiku, being a Satellite native, had never seen such a large shopping place in her life. She was like a hungry child in a candy store.

It had turned out that her wallet was not just loaded, it was practically bursting at the seams with money and Hinagiku intended to make good use of it! She hadn't done all the shopping herself, of course. Rua had hit up the food court and now possessed enough munchies to set up his own snack bar. Ruka had drifted into a plushy store, and after several failed attempts to leave empty-handed, had purchased a multitude of adorable stuffed Duel Monsters. Akiza, like Hinagiku, had decided it was time to update her wardrobe and had purchased a few new outfit goodies and a new red piece of arm-candy.

Rua smiled at Hinagiku as the four made there way out of another shop. "We should go shopping together a lot; I'm having a great time and I HATE shopping!" Ruka nodded in agreement.

"Yeah! Plus, the two of us hardly get out to the mall often, so this is nice!"

"I'm not much of a shopper either, but I'm having a great time! Thanks for coming with us!" Akiza added cheerfully; to be quite honest, she wasn't one to go out anywhere, besides Duel Academy and Poppo Time Garage, so it was nice to finally get out and have fun. Hinagiku grinned from ear to ear.

"I'm having a great time too! Let's go somewhere else!"

"Oh you're not going anywhere!" Hinagiku and the others froze. The pinkette looked over her shoulder nervously.

"Who's there?"

"Well Hina, why don't you turn around!" the voice said. Hinagiku turned slowly and Akiza, Rua and Ruka followed. Suddenly, a large metal object went flying toward her. She had no time to think, only had just enough time to throw up her arm to protect herself. The strange object latched itself to the pinkettes' arm.

"What the?" Hinagiku exclaimed as she looked down at the item, a Duel Disk!

A strange figure, a man with long blue hair, red eyes and a full body suit stepped forward toward Hinagiku, an evil smile plastered on his face. "Now…we duel!" Hinagiku grimaced.

"Listen! I don't know what's going on right now, but," Hinagiku shoved her right hand into her skirt pocket, removed her deck and loaded it into the device. "I won't turn down a duel! You're on!" The man smiled again.

"Excellent…Jaku is pleased. Very pleased… Ladies first!" Hinagiku turned to Akiza and the twins.

"You guys stay back, okay? I don't know what this guys' deal is but I'll just take him down fast!" Akiza nodded as she and the twins moved out of the way.

"Good luck," Akiza told the pinkette who smiled, then turned to Jaku.

"Rua! This is especially for you! Hope you like my deck; it's about to sweep the floor with this guy!"

"Cool!"

** Duel Start!**

** LP Hinagiku: 4000**

** LP Jaku: 4000**

Hinagiku drew her hand and glanced at it briefly. Perfect. "I play a monster in facedown defense mode and also play two cards facedown! Your move!"

Jaku snickered. "That's it? Pathetic!" the man drew, then looked at his cards. "I'm going to summon Mech Loader in attack mode!"

(_**Mech Loader- Dark Machine Type Warrior**_

_** Level Four**_

_** Attack- 1950**_

_** Defense-1100**_

_** Description- a man with short blue hair, a smooth metal face, a black cloak and a sparking mechanical rifle in his waist belt hilt)**_

"1950 attack? That's one strong level four monster. And I've never heard of it before! Hinagiku better be careful…" Akiza thought to herself.

Jaku pointed his finger at Hinagiku, who stared down his beast unfazed. "This is going to be easy!" he shouted. "Once I destroy you, I'll be able to bring you back to my master and gain status in his company. The riches, fame and glory I deserve are within my grasp! You're not just my key to the good life… but an offering to the man who changed my fate; to my master! To Master Kaoru!"

Hinagiku froze up completely. "Ka…oru?" The pinkettes' heart raced a bit. That was the blond man who took her away and hurt the guys! Was this man one of the ones who kidnapped her? Hinagiku gritted her teeth angrily.

"Funny how you hear Kaorus' name and you are instantly struck with fear! You are already thinking to yourself that you will lose! Your fright will make this duel that much more fun! Go Mech Loader!" The Mech Loader pulled a blue gun out of his black gun belt and the gun glowed purple. "Attack the pathetic face down monster! Destroy Hinagikus' only line of defense!"

Hinagiku sighed and looked up at Jaku, shaking her head in disbelief. " If you think I'm scared of you, then you're sadly mistaken! You wanna know what I'm thinking? That I'm already sick of seeing your face!"

Rua laughed and turned to his sister and Akiza, who watched in amazement. "Did you guys hear that? His trash talk didn't even faze her! You go Hinagiku!"

The pinkette smiled. "You bet! If you're connected to Kaoru, then you must be one of the men who tried to kill my friends and ruin my life. So…" Hinagiku gave her military salute, then pointed at the blue haired man. "…I'll show no mercy in this duel! I'm gonna make this quick and easy!" Mech Loader sent out a purple coloured blast and sent it toward Hinagikus' facedown monster. "Facedown card! Go!"

**Ariyuki**- All done! Whew, that was a long chapter! Hope you've enjoyed it!

**Crow and Jack**- We didn't.

**Kurama-** What's the problem?

**Jack**- Are you kidding me? All I did this chapter was make some coffee!

**Crow**- I didn't even show up! You guys left me at work!

**Kurama and Ariyuki**-… Sorry?

*Crow and Jack leave in a huff*

**Kurama**- Yeah. So next chapter is Ari and I's first written duel, so we hope you like it! It's Hinagiku vs. Jaku, in a duel with higher stakes than you thought! Plus, we'll learn if Yusei decides to ask Akiza out yet! If I didn't know any better, I'd say he would probably just…

**Yusei**- No talking about that yet!

*Hits Kurama in the head*

**Kurama**- Owww!

**Ariyuki**- Hey Yusei! Don't hurt Kurama!

*Decks Yusei*

**Kurama**- *sniffle* You protected me! I knew you loved me Ari!

**Ariyuki**- ^-^Don't forget to review!

Next Chapter- Unfurling Her Talons to Protect Her Friends!


	6. Unfurling Her TalonsProtect Her Friends

**Ariyuki**- Yay! Chapter Six has arrived! Ku and I are sorry this update took a long time, but this promises to be a good chapter, I promise! I'm super excited!

**Kurama**- Me too, Ari! This story is really starting to heat up!

**Ariyuki**- I agree and it seems the reviewers feel the same way! This story made it to a double digit number of reviews, which is very thrilling for me! A very special thanks to my new reviewers, Loviigirl22 and Rukia-K1, and my triple time reviewers sammycrusinix and TLoZfantic44! I'm glad you are enjoying my story so far; I enjoy reading your reviews! Lots of love and cookies for all of you!

**Kurama**- Ari and I aren't gonna make one of those "Give us twenty reviews or we won't write!" requests (they bother us!), but reviews _do_ inspire us to start typing more and faster… so hit us up!

**Ariyuki**- I feel like you just contradicted yourself… -_-

**Kurama**- No I didn't!

**Ariyuki- **Yeah you did. Whatever. Oh! I have made an important decision and think I should tell you guys about it quickly; this fic will have a new character in a couple chapters! To be exact, a blue haired robotic mechanic! Bruno will be a part of my story and I think I have a great idea for his entrance! It will not be at all like the show, but I think you'll like it! He'll have quite the important role! But that's for another chapter; no sneak previews, you just have to wait! ^-^ I'm so evil!

**Kurama**- So last Chapter, Hinagiku, Akiza, Rua and Ruka finally met and the bonds between them are already strong! Now, the others are sticking by Hinagikus' side as she battles the mysterious Jaku, who seems to have connections with her captor, Kaoru! And in the calmer part of New Domino, Yusei is doing some serious thinking about taking Hinagikus' advice and asking Akiza on a date! What will he do?

**Ariyuki**- Oh, a quick fun fact before I begin the story! In case anyone was wondering or wonders during the duel where I came up with Hinagikus' deck, it's based off of my own personal deck at home. It made writing the duel a whole lot easier because I didn't have to look up card effects, I could just look the abilities in front of me; that may be a good idea for anyone trying to write their own fanfic duels!

**Kurama**- Gilford the Legend is Aris' all time favourite card EVER, so that's why it's Hinagikus' spirit card. Most of the cards our little OC buddy uses can be found in her deck, minus a few cards we made up to make the duels a bit more exciting!

**Jack**- I should hope you added a few cards! Your deck is too mediocre to be a deck for someone as powerful as Hinagiku. And it sure isn't as good as mine! And why the duce are these author notes so long? It's totally unnecessary!

**Ariyuki**- …Kurama…please be ready to hold me back… I think I might just kill him. He is annoying me…

**Kurama**- ^-^' *now a bit nervous* O…okay! Let's start this thing!

*Crow creeps over*

**Crow**-*whispering* Um… Hey guys. Can Hina and I have a romance scene today? I mean, I waited a whole chapter…

**Kurama-… **Ari, what should we do?

**Ariyuki**- *sighs*…Maybe.

**Crow- **HURRAY! Ariyuki does not own Yugioh 5ds or Yugioh World Championship 2010, but she does own Hinagiku, the fifth member of Team SATISFACTION!

**Kurama**- You jumped the gun with the disclaimer. Again. .

**Crow**- XD

**Ariyuki**- I said maybe! Geez. Well, here's chapter six!

**Chapter Six- Unfurling Her Talons to Protect Her Friends**

Jaku sneered evilly as he sent his Mech Loader to attack Hinagiku." Go! Destroy the pathetic facedown monster. Mechanical Blast!" The robotic gunman pulled out his gun and shot a charged purple bullet at Hinagiku, who smiled and watched as the attack and her monster collided. Jaku grinned as the two cards were engulfed in smoke. "Ha! Did you see that Hinagiku? Your beast is toast!" the blue haired man boasted loudly.

"Not really… why don't you check your life points!" Hinagiku yelled from behind the dissipating smoke cloud.

"What the?" Jaku looked down at his duel disk and gasped. "Why did my life points lower?" he asked angrily. He looked up to see Hinagiku, her arms crossed and a smug smile plastered on her face, as well as an unharmed, zombie-like monster that stood in front of her, its arms crossed as well.

Hinagiku laughed a bit. "Sorry, but the monster you chose to attack was my good old friend Grave Protector! Your gunman's attack strength was impressive but not good enough to break down his 2000 defense points! I suggest you don't try that again."

** Jaku LP: 3950**

The red eyed fiend glared at Hinagiku. "Don't tell me what to do!" he snapped. "I activate Mech Loaders' ability! Once per turn, by sending one card from my hand to the graveyard, I'm allowed to wage another attack and his attack points increase by two hundred!" Jaku grabbed a card from his hand and slipped it into the front of the disk. "And now that he's stronger than your zombie, I'll have him attack with a second Mechanical Blast!" The beast pulled out his gun and fired a second shot.

"Oh no!" Rua yelled out as he turned to his sister. "If that shot hits, Hinagiku will lose her only monster! Not good!"

"Humph! Did you even listen before? I said don't try that again and what do you do? You attack. Geez! Now watch!" Hinagiku threw her arm out and revealed one of her facedowns. "I play my spell, Yellow Luster Shield! As long as this card is face up on my field, it hands all my monsters an extra three hundred defense points! Now, do your thing Grave Protector!"

"Shoot! I can't believe this!" Jaku cursed angrily as he watched his second attack backfire.

Hinagiku grinned, satisfied with how the duel was already playing out in her favor. "Your monster only has 2150 attack points and my defense right now is 2300! So now you take one hundred and fifty points of damage! So, wanna try that _again_?"

**Jaku** **LP: 3800**

Akiza watched the duel in awe. "Wow! Did you guys see that?" she asked the twins. "It's almost as if she saw a second attack coming! She's a couple steps ahead of this guy already!"

Rua's eyes gleamed and he shouted out to the dueling pinkette, "Awesome move! Keep it up!" Hinagiku smiled at her mint haired friend and gave him a thumbs up. Jaku bit his lip and growled crossly.

"I should have been a bit more careful; the rumors about her skills are quite accurate," he muttered to himself as a bit of sweat began to drip down his forehead. Jaku checked his hand once more and glared. "I guess that's it for me this turn. Make your move," he finished, a bit of frustration in his voice. Jaku couldn't afford to make anymore dumb moves; he needed to beat Hinagiku in order to gain the favor of Kaoru. The blond leader had become more and more irritable since Hinagiku…did what she did; several of his partners had gone on a one way trip to hell with the aid of Kaorus' fury. What to do in a situation like this…

"Alright!" Hinagiku yelled as she placed her hand on her hand and pulled out a card. "My turn! I draw!" The pinkette glanced at her cards for a moment and smiled. "I end my turn."

Hinagikus' three friends gasped and Jaku blinked, confused that it was already his turn. "What?" Ruka exclaimed in a state of puzzlement. Why didn't Hinagiku do anything? Did she not draw a monster card or was that her plan? The green haired girl crossed her arms and looked back over at the unfolding battle with worried eyes. "I hope you know what you're doing," she whispered to herself.

Jaku glared at the pinkette. "I don't know what that was but quite frankly, if you don't do anything, it makes defeating you a whole lot easier! I draw!" Jaku looked happily at his new card. "I'm going to play a card facedown and then summon out the all powerful Mech Combatant in attack mode!"

**(Mech Combatant- Dark Machine Type**

** Attack: 2300**

** Defense: 0**

** Description: A green haired soldier in brown rusted armor. He holds a grenade that glows purple, just like Mech Loaders' weapon)**

"And now," he continued. "…if I send one card from my hand to the graveyard, I can destroy one spell or trap card on your field! The card I will choose is your Yellow Luster Shield!"

Hinagiku shook her head at her opponent. "Jaku, there's no reason for you to waste a card to take out my spell. Here, I'll do it for you!" Hinagiku activated her other facedown card. "I play Heavy Storm! Now, all the spells and traps on the field are destroyed!"

Jaku glared, angrily as she had just destroyed his facedown card, but also in confusion and asked her, "Why would you do that? Why would you save me a card? That doesn't make any sense!"

Hinagiku simply smiled and informed him, "It's still your move. Grave Protector has only 2000 defense points now, so feel free to attack me."

Jaku gritted his teeth. "Hinagiku looks confident enough," he thought to himself. "…but she doesn't have any cards down to stop my attacks, so her provoking must be a bluff!"

"Alright then!" he yelled to her. "Go Mech Loader! Destroy Grave Protector!" To Jakus' surprise, the attack succeeded and Grave Protector was destroyed. Now a bit pleased with himself, Jaku turned his head to his second monster and pointed to Hinagiku, commanding, "Mech Combatant! Attack her life points directly!"

Hinagiku gritted her teeth slightly as the monsters' gun shot out another glowing bullet, that sped towards her chest. "Here it comes…" she said to herself quietly

"Go! Enjoy your 2300 points of Combatants' Mechanized Range attack!" Jaku yelled as the bullet collided with Hinagikus' chest.

**Hinagiku LP: 1700**

The pinkettes' face momentarily contorted as she gasped in pain, but her scowl was quickly replaced by a smile. "Now you've done it!" Hinagiku declared between pants; she pulled a card from her hand and placed on an empty monster zone. "I summon Gorz the Emissary Of Darkness in attack mode!" With that, a tall, red haired man with dark cobalt armor, a scarlet cape around his waist and a giant silver sword stepped onto the field in front of Hinagiku. She smiled, pointing at the newly arisen warrior and asked, "He's pretty cool, right?"

Jaku couldn't believe his eyes as he looked over at the mighty swordsman, its threatening look invoking a feeling of fear in his chest. He glared ferociously at Hinagiku and sputtered out with a hint of irritation, "No way! Why is it that you can summon a level seven monster with any tributes on my turn? Impossible! You can't do that!"

"Not so!" the pinkette corrected him with a grin. "You see, when I don't control any cards on the field and I take a form of damage, I'm allowed to summon Gorz to the field. And that's not all! Because I took battle damage specifically, I can also call out another monster, who's attack and defense points equal the amount of damage I just took!" A smaller, female and chibi-like version of Gorz emerged from a cloud of smoke and stood next to the swordsman, her arms crossed and cheeks puffed adorably. "Say hi to the Emissary Token!"

Akiza laughed, her eyes ablaze with excitement; Hinagiku was planning something like this by not doing anything? Awesome! The claw signer clenched her fists anxiously and thought to herself, "I haven't been this pumped by a duel in a while; Hinagiku is amazing! She is going to cream this guy! I have to battle her myself sometime!"

Jaku gulped as he wiped a few strands of blue hair off his forehead and closed his eyes. This was not good. Not only did Hinagiku have out two beasts, but Gorz had 2700 attack points and the Token had 2300, which made them strong enough to take out both his Mech monsters. "However," the bluenette thought with an evil smile. "…she has placed herself in danger by taking the damage required for Gorzs' ability. She lost more than half her life in one turn… I'm still in this!" Jaku reopened his eyes and looked over at Hinagiku. "Well I guess I've got nothing else to do this round. But before I end my turn, I should give up a heads up about something… I'd be bit more careful with your life points if I was you."

"And why's that?" the pinkette asked. Jaku smiled faintly and glanced at his duel disk.

"If you look closely at your disk, you'll notice this…" the bluenette pointed to the life gauge. Hinagikus' eyes dropped down as she glanced at the gauge, then gasped as she noticed a dark purple glow around the display of her remaining life.

"What…is that?" Hinagiku inquired. "And what does it do?"

"That, my dear, is the key component to this battle. You see, after you pulled your cute little stunt on Kaoru, he wasn't the most pleased person in the world. He needed a way to get his hands on you again, with as little effort and as fast as possible. So, Master Kaoru sent myself and the three other elite on the mission to retrieve you. I, the Elite Master Jakunara, was chosen to go first."

The blunette pointed to the life point gauge again. "And this little thing makes recovering you easier, the invention complements of Elite Master Shiki. You see, there is a device known as a particle transporter inside both of our disks. With this, the disks can be used to move anything touching it to a single location. Its destination? Kaorus' main room of course! And when used in a duel, the transporters begin to charge up!"

Hinagiku bit her lip angrily and said harshly, "So let me guess. When one of our lives goes down to zero, we get swept away to Kaoru?" Jaku nodded with and evil grin.

"That's correct. And the duel disk will also attach itself to your arm, so, no matter where you go, the transporter will take you away! Fun huh? I'm sure Kaoru would be pleased to see your face again!" Jaku yelled out, amused with himself.

Ruka glared at the comment and gritted her teeth, then muttered, "I see. So that's what this is about."

Rua looked over at his sister and asked, "What do you mean?"

"Don't you see? This guy shows up to battle Hinagiku and she doesn't have a clue who Jaku is. Now, he is talking about taking Hinagiku away again to some Kaoru person, who needs her for some reason…"

Akiza snapped her fingers and nodded, concluding, "This Kaoru guy has to be the one who Hinagiku told us about earlier; he's the one who took her away from the guys a few years back! And Jaku must be one of his lackeys! She doesn't recognize him though because she lost her memory!"

Hinagiku turned her head to Akiza and the twins and nodded. Then, the pinkette looked back over at Jaku and smiled smugly. "Listen buddy. First off, your stakes do NOT worry me at all! Don't try to scare me; it usually doesn't work. Secondly, as much as I would love to go through some techno portal and kick Kaorus' sorry butt right now, I'm not sure Crow, Jack and Yus would be pleased about me taking this job all by myself. You punks did some major damage to them and they deserve to have some fun too. So, that trip the loser earns is not at all an option for me! You," she stopped for a moment and drew a card. "…are going down!" Hinagiku placed the new card in her hand and took a moment to think. "Okay! I'm gonna summon Element Doom in attack mode!" The dark winged monster appeared on Hinagikus' field.

"Now go! Gorz attack Mech Combatant with Justice Slash!"

**Jaku LP: 3400**

"Then I'll attack Mech Loader with the Emissary Token!" Hinagiku continued. "Go! Slicing Blade Hurricane!"

**Jaku LP: 3250**

"And finally," Hinagiku yelled as she pointed toward Jaku. "Element Doom! Attack him directly with your Dark Claw!"

**Jaku LP: 1750**

Hinagiku smiled, grabbed another card from her hand and played it facedown. "Now that I've evened the life point playing field, I think I'll just end my turn with a facedown! Your go!" Hinagiku looked down at her deck and thought to herself, "If things work out, this will be the card to secure my victory… I trust you'll help me Legend…"

Jaku growled and drew his next card. This battle was getting to closely matched for his liking. He glanced over at his new card and suddenly, his face sported an evil grin. "You are…dead! I play my ultimate spell, Last Chance Modification!"

"Huh?" Hinagiku glanced over at Jaku curiously. "What's that?"

The bluenette laughed. "This is your doom! When I have a Monster with the word Mech in its name in my graveyard, I can send the top three cards from my deck to the grave!" Jaku pulled the top cards off his deck, discarded them and searched his deck for another. "And with that, I can then call out…the Perfect Ultimate Mechanical Warrior!"

There was a loud rumbling sound and Hinagiku placed a hand over her eyes to block the sudden flash of bright light. "Awesome! What does he do, I wonder ?" the pinkette asked herself as she pulled her fingers away and gasped. In front of Hinagiku stood a giant robot with glowing purple armor, a silver helm and large blue cannon attached to its left arm. Akiza gulped slightly at the sight of the powerful cyborg as she clenched her hands, and Ruka clutched her brothers' hand tightly.

"That looks really strong you guys. What's Hinagiku gonna do? It's a level nine beast with a whopping 3100 attack points; Mechanical Warrior could take out any of her monsters…" Rua turned to his twin. "Don't worry sis! Hinagiku is one of the greatest duelists I've ever seen. I know she can pull through this!" he reassured as he squeezed Rukas' hand back.

Jaku smiled at his newly acquired monster and yelled to Hinagiku, "My Mechanical Warrior is the most powerful beast on the field and now I'll have him display his power!" The Mechanical Warrior pressed a button on his left shoulder, activating his cannon, which gained a familiar purple glow. "Go! Attack Element Doom with Supreme Mech Barrage!"

**Hinagiku LP: 100**

The bluenette grinned and he watched Hinagiku cry out in pain as she fell to her knees, one of her hands holding her up against the floor. "Well then, I guess I'm done for now; take your last move because next turn, I'll crush you! You've been pretty lucky with all of your facedown cards and little tricks, but now its over! You will lose and then my rank with Kaoru will increase, our mission will be completed and you will…huh?" Jaku stopped talking and looked over at Hinagiku, who was… laughing? "What is wrong with you? What is it you find so funny?"

"Oh sorry! *giggle* It's just that you think I've lost the duel!" the pinkette explained as she stood up from the ground and dusted off her blue mini skirt. "All this time, I've been doing _little _things; stopping an attack, summoning a monster here and there. You'd think I was randomly lucky but…" Hinagiku stopped and grinned slyly. "…all this time, you've been playing right into my strategy. And now…" The pinkette placed a hand on her deck. "If my gut was right, you lose the moment I draw." Akiza and the twins watched with rapt stares as Hinagiku drew her card. She took a quick glance at it, and her face immediately lit up. "Got it!"

Jaku was now giving Hinagiku such an angry glare, if he was a cyborg like his monster, lasers would probably be shooting out of his eyes. "How dare you even suggest I lose? Are you really as stupid as you look? You haven't got a single monster to stand up to my Mechanical Warrior, last I checked!" he yelled out.

Hinagiku gave the bluenette a smug grin. "Not yet I don't…But if I do this I will! I sacrifice my Gorz and the Emissary Token!" She pulled the cards of her duel disk and slipped them in the grave. "Come on out Legend!" Jaku wiped sweat off his brow nervously as he watched the red haired warrior emerged from a cloud of smoke. Gilford the Legend stepped down onto the tiled floor of the mall and turned to Hinagiku, who smiled at her partner. "Hey man. Ready to go?" Gilford nodded.

Rukas' face beamed as she observed the new beast. She turned to Akiza and her brother and exclaimed, "You guys! This is it; this is the card she owns with a spirit! It's so cool Hinagiku!"

"Wow! A warrior man? Awesome! Crush this dude!" Rua shouted loudly.

"Yeah! Hinagiku, Jakus' really annoying to look at and his voice is grating on my nerves! Get rid of this creep quickly!" Akiza added in cheerily.

Hinagiku chuckled. "Akiza! Rua! Ruka! Let's win this together!"

Jaku growled and yelled out aggravated, "Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP! Are you ALL messed up in the head? Her little warrior has 2600 attack points, while mine has 3100! Mine is stronger! She can't win!" Hinagiku sighed, shaking a finger at him.

"Jaku…I'm sick of all these assumptions. I've played the way I have because I knew that Legend would arrive when I needed his help. So, of course I have a strategy to win. It'd be pretty dumb not to. So now, let's just see if I'm right! Go facedown card! I activate Tuner Chant!"

"Here's how it works; I draw two or more tuner monsters." Hinagiku picked up her deck and pulled two cards out. "Now Jaku, you get to choose one of these two cards and I get to summon it! The other goes to the grave, so pick wisely."

Jaku glared at Hinagiku, who held the tuners between her pointer and ring finger and sported a smug grin. "It…it doesn't matter which I pick… You'll lose anyway, but I choose the left card!" Hinagikus' face lit up once again.

"Legend! Jack get's to help us!" Gilford smiled slightly at his master.

"Summon it Giku. I'm ready." Hinagiku nodded.

"Okay!" The pinkette threw down the selected card. "I summon the tuner, Dark Protector!" A chibi monster appeared; a man with long brown hair and golden eyes, wearing dark red armor that looked like dragon wings, emerged on the field next to Gilford. "And now, I'll have my level two Dark Protector tune my level eight Gilford the Legend! Come forth! Gilford the Dark Legendary Swordsman!"

Jaku gasped as a large black hole materialized on the field and Gilford and Dark Protector entered the portal. Moments later, a large sword with black scales around the hilt and a glass blade forced itself out of the hole, followed by an arm, then an entire body. "No…no way!"

Dark Gilford jumped out of the hole and landed on the field in front of Hinagiku. He had dark purple hair that went down his back to the floor, deep blue eyes and armor that looked to be made of a type of black crystal. " My Dark Gilford has 3500 attack points, which make him more powerful than your Mechanical Warrior! And I'm not done yet!" Hinagiku continued as she placed a card in the spell and trap zone. "I play my equip spell card, Axe Of Despair! This card hands Dark an extra 1000 attack Points!"

Jaku gritted his teeth nervously and clenched his fist. "It doesn't matter! After your attack, my life points will go down to 350, but I will not have lost! Plus, my beast has a special ability! At the end phase of the turn it is destroyed, I can remove all monsters from the field and you take 300 points of damage for each one! Because you only have 100 life points left, you will lose the moment you end your turn!" The bluenette growled as a evil grin plastered itself on his face. "Resistance is futile! You lose! It doesn't matter how strong you think your beast is!"  
>Hinagiku sighed, shaking her head at her opponent once again and responded, "First of all, Dark is not a beast, he's a warrior. He doesn't have fur or wings and I'm pretty sure he's standing on two feet; just saying. Secondly, I wasn't done with my move yet. I activate Dark Gilfords' special ability."<p>

Hinagiku pulled her deck out of the duel disk, drew out a card and placed back the deck. "Dark Gilford allows me to search my deck for a spell or trap. If the conditions are met to use the card, I can automatically activate it. Normally, the trap I just chose would have to be set first, but because of Dark, I can play it now! Go, Cemetery Bomb!"

"No! Not that card!" Jaku exclaimed fearfully as he backed up. The bluenette tripped over his feet and fell on the floor.

"This card deals damage to my enemy equal to the number of cards in your graveyard times 100! Because you have seven cards, you take 700 points!"

**Jaku LP: 1050**

Hinagiku brushed a few pieces of hair out of her eyes, then gave her military salute to Jaku. "Guess I was right huh? I win. Gilford the Dark Legendary Swordsman, attack the Mechanical Warrior with Pitch-Black Slash Finale!"

**Jaku LP: 0**

"She did it!" Ruka exclaimed happily as she and her brother ran over to Hinagikus' side, followed closely behind by Akiza.

Hinagiku smiled at her friends for a moment, then turned and walked toward Jaku, who knelt on the ground, shaking violently. "Are you okay?" she asked him as she reached out her hand for him to grab. The bluenette looked up at his target angrily, his hair sticking to his forehead.

"I …hate you… Hinagiku…" he panted out as he slapped her hand away. Jaku stood up once more and stepped back. "This can't be happening…Ahhh!" he yelled as his body was engulfed in purple light. Hinagiku and the others squinted as there was a bright flash of light; when they reopened their eyes, Jaku was gone. Rua walked over to Hinagiku and grabbed her hand.

"Well I sure don't hate you; that guys' a sore loser! You're incredible!" the mint haired boy told Hinagiku, who grinned happily.

"Thanks Rua! And thanks for being at my side during the duel; your support made it even more fun to cream that guy!" The four burst into laughter. Hinagiku grabbed Rukas' hand with her empty one, turned to Akiza and said, "Let's go home. It's been a long day."

The claw signer nodded and turned to the twins. "Why don't you guys take the metro back to the Tops? I'll take Hinagiku back to Poppo Time." she suggested.

"Are you sure?" Rua asked.

Akiza nodded. The twins both smiled and Ruka responded, "Okay! Hinagiku?" The pinkette looked over at the mint haired signer.

"Yes?"

" Rua and I think you are the best! Can we visit you again soon?"

"Of course!" Hinagiku let go of the twins' hands and placed hers' on their shoulders. "Come by whenever you can! I'll be with the guys. I would like our duel spirits to meet soon! And Rua…I want a duel some time! Be ready!"

Rua laughed and grabbed his sisters' hand. "You bet!" And with that, the two siblings waved goodbye and ran off. Hinagiku waited until they were out of sight, then turned to Akiza and gave her friend a quick hug.

"Akiza, can I tell you something?" The crimson haired signer nodded. "It's sort of embarrassing but…you and Ruka are the first real female friends I've ever had. I really hope we get to hang out a lot more."

Akiza chuckled. "Me too Hinagiku. Me too…Let's go."

A little while later, the two young females had arrived at Poppo Time. Hinagiku pushed open the door of the garage and held it open for Akiza, then yelled, "Yo! We're home!" Yusei, who had been in the living room attempting to fix the air conditioning _for the third time that month_, looked up from his work at the sound of his friends' voice, set down his tools and ran downstairs.

"Yo Hinagiku," he said as he spotted the pinkette. The ravens' eyes drifted next to her and he spotted a certain red head woman; Akiza! "O…oh! Hi Aki!" he stammered out. Yusei took a deep breath and dashed down the long garage stairwell. Hinagikus' idea from earlier that afternoon was still burning deep in his mind.

_"She said she had a half day tomorrow. What you do is take her somewhere for the rest of the day. Keep it simple; take Akiza out for lunch or a stroll in the park. It's simple, it's cute and it's an impossible deal to turn down if she likes you…After I'm done at the mall, I'll bring Akiza back here so you can talk to her. "_

Yusei had spent at least an hour deciding if he'd ask her out, and then another one choosing the right way to say it. After all the hours of preparation…the guy was still nervous as heck."Looks like Hinagiku kept her part of the deal; Akis' here. Now all that's left to do is ask her out. Simple…Not!" the head signer thought to himself. Yusei jumped the last step to the warm concrete floor and walked over to the two girls. "Akiza, thanks for bringing Hinagiku home; I was a bit worried she might get lost on the way here or something. And if that had happened, Crow would have killed me." Hinagiku chuckled and gave Yusei a light punch on the shoulder.

"Yes, that was _very _nice of Akiza to do, wasn't it? She came all this way…" Hinagiku smirked at Yusei and mouthed. "Are you ready?" Yusei gulped a little, but nodded slowly. "Good luck! I hope everything goes great!" she mouthed to him once more. The pinkette turned to Akiza. "Thanks for a great day today! I had fun!"

The red head grinned back and responded, "Of course! I don't what was better; actually enjoying myself at the mall or watching you destroy Jaku in a duel!"

Yusei gave the two girls a confused look. "Who's Jaku?"

"I'll tell you at dinner!" Hinagiku walked over to the stairwell. "Akiza, I'd better start cooking; thanks for walking me home! Stop by again soon?" Akiza nodded and waved.

"Bye!" The pinkette bounced happily up to the next floor. When she left, Akiza turned to her raven haired friend. "I should probably be leaving myself; I have a lot of work to finish for tomorrows' classes…" Yusei sighed and grabbed the red heads' hand.

"Um…Aki? Can we talk for one second before…before you go?" he asked with a nervous smile. The claw signer blushed and nodded. Yusei bit his lip; this was his chance. "Don't look like you're uneasy Yusei; she'll know something's up. Just calm down and ask her…" he told himself.

"Aki, I…"

Up in the kitchen, Hinagiku threw one last cluster of chopped carrots into the stainless steel pot she had placed on the stove. After she had gone upstairs, Hinagiku had dropped her shopping bags off in Crows' room and changed into some of her new clothes, a pajama set consisting of a pair of orange, plaid, drawstring shorts and a neon pink tube top with an orange halter strap, black knee socks and a pair of white Vans with orange laces. Because she acknowledged her chronic clumsiness and did not want to _already _stain her new outfit, the pinkette had gone on a kitchen wide search for an apron; she eventually found one shoved in a cabinet drawer. Her next hunt, one for ingredients, had not been quite as hard as she'd imagined; in the fridge behind a wall of Noodles to Gogo and coffee creamer, Hinagiku had found just the right amount of vegetables, broth and chicken to make a meal. The pinkette turned up the heat to a broil, then squatted down and looked through the glass door of the tiny apartment oven. "Hmm…It looks like the chicken's fully roasted. I'd better take it out now." Hinagiku slipped on the guys apron and grabbed a pot holder. She opened the oven door and pulled out the chicken with her covered hand. Hinagiku placed the pan on the marble counter and pulled a fork out of the apron pocket, which she used to rip a small piece of meat of the bone. "Perfect! It tastes just the way I wanted it to!" she murmured happily as she plopped the tender white meat in her mouth and swallowed.

"What tastes perfect?" a voice asked from behind Hinagiku, surprising her a bit. A pair of arms wrapped around the pinkettes' waist and a head rested itself on her shoulders. Hinagiku smiled lightly as she felt a pair of lips kiss her neck sweetly, turned around and placed her hands against the persons' chest.

"Hey you! How was your day?" the pinkette asked as she pressed her lips on the gingers' forehead. Crow Hogan smiled softly and pulled his love in a bit tighter.

"Too long, Hina. Usually, work goes by easily, but it's hard when a guys' thinking about his koi all by herself at home. I hope you weren't lonely…" Hinagiku shook her head.

"Not for very long. Jack came home around lunch and then I went to the mall with your friends Akiza, Rua and Ruka. It was fun to get out and relax," the pinkette explained.

"Oh really? I'm glad. Is the mall where you got these cute clothes? They look wonderful on you. But then again, pretty much everything does."

Hinagiku nodded, winking as she told him, "You're so sweet Crow. Well, I was thinking of you when I bought them; didn't you notice all the orange?" Crow chuckled, then pulled the fork with a piece of half eaten chicken out of Hinagikus hand and nibbled on the end of the chunk. The ginger gave a satisfied hum.

"Unn Hina, you're turning me into a cannibal. It's one thing for a crow to sell chicken and a whole other to eat it… but it's so dang good!"

Hinagiku giggled. "I'm glad you like it. Can you tell what spices are in it?" The pinkette had known Crow to have an extremely strong sense of taste; it was always fun to test his palate.

"One second…" Crow paused, taking another bite and sucking on it. The ginger smiled and answered, "Basil, olive oil, butter, lemon, a hint of pepper and…something else. There was something else I tasted but I'm not sure what. Let's see here…" The young man placed a hand on Hinagikus' chin and lifted it until her face was in total reach, then kissed her lips tenderly. The pinkette sighed, opening her mouth a bit more and swallowing Crows' kiss. Hinagiku moved her hands down to Crows' waist, then up rim of his undershirt. She took a moment to feel every part of his back and felt Crows' muscles lax at her cold touch. Eventually, the two broke apart and the ginger grinned. "There's that other ingredient…Found it," he whispered.

Hinagiku couldn't help laughing. "That's because you ate from the side I was eating, silly!" The pinkette turned back to her soup. "The soup's almost done. Why don't you go on to your room and clean up, then bring Jack down for dinner? I'll get Yus."

"Yes Maam!" Crow chuckled. The carrot top ran over to the second floor ladder and began to climb. "Hey Jack!" Hinagiku heard him yell as he stepped on the second floor. Hinagiku sighed. "I have to be the luckiest girl in the world to have Crow as my own," the pinkette told herself as she turned off the stove, then ran downstairs. "Yusei! Dinner!" Yusei sat on the garage floor, fiddling with a pair of pliers and piece of scrap metal, his jacket draped over his shoulders. The raven haired boy looked up at Hinagiku for a moment, then nodded silently, a solemn look on his face. "Hey…"Hinagiku met Yusei mid-stair and placed a hand on his shoulder. "What's going on…How'd _it _go?" Yusei sighed.

"I'm fine… It didn't matter that much anyway…we'll still be friends…maybe," he mumbled silently. Hinagiku bit her top lip and lay her face on Yusei's chest; she saw just what his reaction was suggesting.

"Oh my gosh Yus…I'm so sorry; I feel awful." A few tears started to dab themselves on the pinkettes' eyes. "I really thought she'd…say yes…"

Yusei grabbed Hinagikus' shoulders and pulled her up to his eye level. "You think you just know everything, don't you? Why did I even listen to you? You give me all this courage to ask her out, and this happens! Did you even think about the consequences? About how I'd feel? No, you didn't! You forced me into this!" He glared at the pinkette, who looked into his eyes with fear.

"Yus…"

"And you wanna know the worst part about all this is?"

"…Yusei…I'm sor…"

"…The worst part is…You are always right!" Yusei's face immediately changed to a goofy grin and he pulled Hinagiku into a deadly bear hug. "You were so, so, so, so, right! I'm so happy!" he laughed happily as he spun around, dragging Hinagiku off the ground with him.

"Stop spinning, I'm getting really, really dizzy!" Hinagiku yelled out to Yusei, who halted and attempted to relocate his orientation, but promptly fell to the ground, followed by the pinkette .

"Sorry. Dizzy…" he managed to say as he held his head a little. He then resumed his laughter.

"That was not funny!" she scolded her friend, who was laughing uncontrollably.

"Haha! That face was great, Hinagiku! You should have seen it! I scared the crap out of you!" Yusei said between chuckles. He wiped a tear out of his eye, and smiled at the pinkette, who puffed her cheeks angrily. Yusei sweat dropped and said nervously, "I was joking…Sorry."

Hinagiku smiled, punching him in the shoulder. "It's alright Yus; I'll get you back some day! I'm glad she said yes, though!"

Yusei smiled back and sat up on a metal step, then motioned for Hinagiku to do the same. " Me too. I was actually really nervous to ask Aki out, so I'm glad I made it through alive."

"That's not like you to be so nervous Yusei…" Hinagiku observed. "It's kind of funny to see you on edge. No emotion Yusei, who battled hoard of punks, gang leaders and police officers, got the jitters asking a girl on a date.

Yusei chuckled. "Yeah, I know! Says something huh?"

Hinagiku nodded. "So, where are you taking her?"

"Well I didn't tell her where we're going, I said it would be a surprise, but this is what I was thinking; First, I had the idea of taking Aki to this really cute ice-cream parlour. There's a park in back of it, with a balcony that's right above the ocean. I thought we could eat it there. Romantic-ish-ish?"

Hinagiku smiled brightly. "Absolutely! Good start! What's next?"

"Well, I found this place a while back called the Crimson Garden that I thought I take her. Aki loves flowers, particularly roses, and I heard that around this time, the whole park is overflowing with roses of every colour and its supposed to be beautiful. I think she'll like it there. We'd hang there for a while and then afterwards, I'd take her for a light dinner at Corelli's, this minorly classy outdoor deli, where we could look at the eat and you know, watch the stars and stuff …That's not too cheesy, is it?"

"Yes it is. It really is…But girls love cheesy romance, don't you know? Akiza is going to have the time of her life! You two are gonna be such a cute couple!" Yusei blushed and shrugged coyly. Hinagiku stood up and grabbed her raven haired friends' arm, pulling him up with her. "Let's go have dinner. Tomorrow, I'll help you get ready for your date, make sure you're all set for the time of your life. How's that sound?"

Yusei grinned from cheek to cheek. "Thanks Hinagiku!" The two embraced for a brief moment, then ran upstairs. In the kitchen, Jack and Crow were pulling plates out of the top cabinet. Yusei and Hinagiku walked over and helped to dish up the food. When they were all plated up, the four went to the living room, sat on the couch, said grace, and began to eat.

"Wow Hinagiku, this food is almost as good as my ramen cups!" Jack exclaimed as he happily dug into a second chicken leg. Hinagiku sweat dropped, but smiled.

"I'll take that as a complement…I'm so glad you approve Jack! Does this make up for the lack of lunch earlier today?"

"Yeah…thanks," the blond responded quickly before shoving another piece of chicken in his mouth.

Yusei smiled and he exchanged knowing glances with his ginger haired friend. If he or Crow had cooked dinner, Jack would have found at least fifteen things wrong with the meal by now. It was kind of funny to see Jack trying to be nice; when Hinagiku was around, Jack always seemed to be a bit more…reasonable.

Crow placed a hand around Hinagikus' waist and pulled her in closer to him on the sofa. "So Hinagiku told me a bit about her day; what did you guys do? The typical?"

Yusei nodded and thought to himself, "Yups, I had a normal day. I worked, tried to fix the AC, asked Akiza Izayoi on a date, she accepted…Totally normal." Jack gave a simple grunt. He didn't do anything really important, _besides _have a quick little session of Hinagiku alone time; Crow didn't need to know that.

"Actually Crow, I haven't told you everything that happened today…" Hinagiku said quietly.

Yusei sat forward. 'Oh yeah! You said something about a duel earlier? With a guy named Janu or Jaki something?"

"Jaku. Actually, his full name was Jakunara."

"A duel?" Jack Atlas glanced at the pinkette. "You better have won. I'll be mad if you didn't. "

"I did. In fact, I won with the Gilford synchro you gave me…And I also learned some important stuff from the duel."

"Important?" Crow pulled Hinagiku onto his lap and asked, "Like what?"

Hinagiku cleared her throat. "Like Kaoru kind of stuff…"

Crows' face went blank, Jack instantly dropped his chicken bone on his plate and Yusei immediately choked on a mouthful of soup. "Kaoru? You mean the kidnapping psycho blonde Kaoru? What's going on?" the three yelled in unison.

"This is going to take a while to explain…"

**Crow**- :3 Yay! Romance, romance, romance! It came later in the chapter than I hoped but, you rule Ari! Yay Romance! *Spins off happily*

**Ariyuki**- …Yeah. ^-^'

**Jack-** Is it just me, or are these chapters getting longer and longer with less and less of Jack Atlas action?

**Ariyuki-**Yeah, this is like, over 7000 words-_-… But I don't want to write a ten word chapter either.

**Kurama**- And don't worry about your action deficiency. Next chapter, you get to…

**Ariyuki**- SHHH! Don't give anything away!

**Jack**- Review this chapter or I will proceed to annoy the heck out of Ari and Ku, FOREVER! Actually, you readers shouldn't care if I annoy them…so…I'm gonna do it anyway! Because I'm Jack Atlas!

**Ariyuki**-That's a terrible reason to review…Please review if you can! Let me know how you are enjoying the story so far and if there's anything you'd like to see happen! ^-^ I luv you guys!

**Jack**- Or you could send angry messages about my lack of appearances _and_ I could annoy Ari and Ku!

**Kurama**- …Are you okay? DO you need to see a doctor? I think something's wrong with you today…

**Jack**- I'm always perfect. I'm Jack Atlas!

**Ariyuki**- He's fine.

**Kurama**- …

**Next Chapter- **A Plan To Feather The Storm


	7. A Plan To Feather The Storm

**Ariyuki-** It's lucky Chapter Seven! Hurray!

**Kurama**- I hope everyone is enjoying the story of Hinagiku, her love life and her quest for lost memories! Sorry this chapter is late; for some reason, this section was very hard for Ari and I write. We had an idea for what was going to happen during the section, but then we suddenly changed it, in order to make everything run smoothly. Hope you like it!

**Ariyuki**- So, not only does this story have over 1000 views (^-^yah!) but it also has more reviews by itself than my other two combined! A gigantic THANK YOU to my double reviewer Loviigirl22 and my four-time reviewer sammycrusinix! As an author, I have a lot of regard for those who take the time to write a nice review and let me know that people are reading and enjoying! Ku and I love you reviewers and everyone else who's following Return To The Lovers' Nest! Cookies and chocolate to you and anyone who reviews this chapter!

**Kurama**- Last chapter, Hinagiku dueled and defeated Jaku, who revealed that he and others, known as the Elite, were out to get her and return our little pinkette to Kaoru! Yusei finally asked Akiza out on a date and she(thankfully) accepted! Then, after a bit of Guardshipping fluff, Hinagiku started a conversation with Yusei, Crow and Jack about the days' events.

**Ariyuki**- This chapter, Hinagiku and the guys are going to have a serious chat about the battle ahead and Jack does the… unexpected…well, you'll see!

**Jack**- What do you mean unexpected? What the duce are you going to make me do?

**Ariyuki**- I'm not telling! ^-^ You will just have to read like everyone else!

**Jack-** Good grief…-_-' I have a bad feeling about this.

**Kurama**- Okay let's start the story!

**Crow-** Oh boy! Disclaimer time!

*Kurama glares at Crow and tugs a roll of duct tape out of his jean pocket*

**Crow-** Um… What are you doing?

*Kurama steps forward and smiles evilly*

**Crow- **Uh oh! Ari help me!

*Crow tries to run away, but Kurama grabs him first and tapes his mouth shut*

**Ariyuki**- …Question mark? Why'd you do that?

**Kurama**- The last few chapters, Crow stole the disclaimer from me! Now it's my turn!

**Yusei- **Hey Kurama?

**Kurama**- Yes?

**Yusei-** Ari doesn't own Yugioh 5ds or Yugioh World Championship 2010, but she does own Hinagiku, the fifth member of Team…SATISFACTION.

**Kurama-** … You… just did… the DISCLAIMER!

**Yusei- **Tee hee! :D

**Kurama**- You are _so_ dead after these author notes…

**Ariyuki- **O…okay! *stares at the guys nervously* Let's start the chapter!

**Chapter Seven- A Plan To Feather The Storm**

Hinagiku bit her lip, her hazel eyes wavering slightly, and glanced over at her friends. "…I learned some important stuff from the duel," she said softly.

"Important?" Crow pulled the pinkette onto his lap, wrapping his arms around her waist, and asked, "Like…what kind of stuff?"

Hinagiku cleared her throat. "Like Kaoru kind of stuff…"

Crows' face went blank, Jack instantly dropped his chicken bone on his plate and Yusei choked on a mouthful of soup. "Kaoru? You mean the kidnapping psycho blonde Kaoru? What's going on?" the three yelled in unison.

"Yah, this is going to take some serious explaining…" Hinagiku said to herself with a sigh.

Yusei set down his soup bowl on the coffee table gingerly, crossed his arms and cocked his head to face the pinkette. "First, you say you've been involved in a duel with someone I've never heard of, and now you say that you obtained information on your kidnapper. I'm curious; what exactly happened at the mall today?"

Jack placed his plate down as well and licked a bit of sauce off of his fingers, then turned to his friend. "I swear," Jack muttered. "…if you say that those worms hurt you in any way, I'll find them, kill them, bring them back to life, then kill them again," the blond said scowling, his violet eyes glimmering with a hint of anger. Hinagiku smiled softly at the overly protective man, then shook her head slowly.

'Thanks Jack, but you don't need to worry. Jakunara and I didn't physically fight, we just dueled. I wasn't injured," the pinkette explained as she moved to a more comfortable position on Crows' lap. "You see, when Akiza, the twins and I were walking through the shopping center, we were approached by a man named Jakunara who demanded that I duel him. Since he'd already gotten a duel disk on my arm, and I saw no reason not to battle, I accepted. After few turns, I was able to summon out Gorz and a very powerful Emissary Token, thus giving me an edge, which put Jaku…on the ropes, so to speak. That's when he got nervous and the duel became a bit more dangerous…"

Yusei brushed a few strands of black hair out of his eyes and looked down at his lap. "I think I see where this is going," he said quietly nodding.

Crow turned to the raven haired signer, a look of puzzlement plastered on his face, and asked, "What do you mean? Hina didn't even explain anything yet…"

"It's obvious what happened," Yusei told the ginger. " At that point in the duel, Jaku could see Hinagiku was a stronger duelist than he was and that he'd lose. Hinagiku said he became anxious…If he was so nervous about losing, one could assume Jaku couldn't afford to. So then, one must wonder, why is that? The conclusion I make was he had placed himself and Hinagiku in some sort of danger. If that was the case, what Hinagiku was involved in couldn't have been a simple duel. Jaku then let Hinagiku in on the stakes in an attempt to scare her, but failed to do so and ended up giving away information on Kaoru in the process…Am I right?"

Hinagiku folded her arms, pouting, and whined, "Dang it Yusei! Couldn't you have stopped being so smart and freaking insightful for two seconds and let me tell my own story?" The blackette grinned at his flustered friend and scratched the back of his head coyly. Hinagiku shook her head and sighed. "You gave it all away! Bad Yusei!" she scolded jokingly with a smile.

"Sorry…I couldn't help it! I thought it was really obvious…" he chuckled softly. Jack closed his eyes and leant back into the soft couch cushions.

"Well, now that Yusei's ruined story time, and the rest of us stupid people get the picture, let's get the details Mr. Genius left out. Continue," Jack said sarcastically earning him an embarrassed frown from Yusei.

"Sorry…"

Crow glared at Jack, reaching over Yusei's head to briefly deck the blonde, who held his head in pain and yelled angrily, "What the duce was that?"

"Don't be mean to Yusei; you're just jealous he's smarter than you…and shut up so Hina can continue."

Jack glared and began to mutter something unintelligible about sending Crow to the next world, but instead said quietly, "…sorry, I guess. Hinagiku, please continue; I'll be quiet. What'd you learn?"

The pinkette nodded. "Okay. First of all, Yusei was right; the duel against Jaku today did have a twist, and other duels against Kaoru and his minions will most likely have one as well. According to Jaku, I recently did something to make Kaoru very angry; this was most like my escape, but I'm not sure just yet. Anyway, in an attempt to get me back in his clutches, Kaoru dispatched a group of his best men, who Jakunara called the Elite, to capture me and return me to Kaoru. One of these four, an Elite named Shiki, developed a way to take me away if I lost a duel, almost effortlessly, with the aid of a newly equip Duel Disk."

Crow crossed his arms, nodding and said, "Okay, I'm following you so far. So, when Jaku gave you a duel disk, he did it to insure that if you lost, he'd be able to imprison you without a fight. Sneaky enough, but simple. Hmm…"

The ginger lay back into the soft couch cushions, closing his eyes to think for a second, then asked, "What was…the twist? What…happened to Jaku that…could have to happened to you…Hina?" Crow asked, a hint of anger swelling in his voice, a disturbed look plastered on his face as the ginger bit his lip. He tightened his grip on Hinagikus' waist and pulled her into his chest, his eyes still shut.

The pinkette glanced sadly over at her koi, her eyes wavering; she could practically read his mind, practically feel the feelings he had burrowed in his chest. Crow was mad as heck right now, mad that Jaku had attacked her, mad that Hinagiku had been placed in danger, mad that he hadn't been around to protect the only girl he loved. The traces of Crows' strongest anger were faint, barely visible to the naked eye, but Hinagiku knew the signs; she'd seen them before the last few times…something like this happened… The pinkette sighed and brushed some strands of hair out of her eyes.

"Well, inside of the new Duel Disks is something Jaku called a particle transporter. When the user of the disk loses life during a battle, the device charges up energy…and when you lose, the contrivance activates, taking everything touching the duel disk straight to…him. I saw it first hand; the loser disappears in a bright purple glow…" Hinagiku explained. Crow gritted his teeth, furiously, but said nothing.

Jack stared angrily at his clenched fists that rested in his lap and spat out, furiously yet quietly, "So those…people… have created something that uses a duel as a way to kidnap someone? Despicable…I don't like it one bit!"

Yusei nodded in agreement, an intense look on his face and a dark hint to his cobalt eyes. The blackette folded his hands, then rested his elbows on his knees and pressed his forehead on his fists. Yusei closed his eyes for a second, then opened them again and inquired, "Hinagiku…do you have the disk? Did Jaku take it when he…disappeared?"

Hinagiku shook her head. "No, actually I have it upstairs in Crows' room. I suppose the winners' disk remains the same…"

"Give it to me."

Crow and Jack glanced over at Yusei curiously. "Why," Crow asked his raven haired friend. "…do you want it?"

Yusei closed his eyes again. "I can figure out how it does it, how such a small device can transport matter, and find a way to utilize the information I gain. I'm sure I can do it…" The young man smiled slightly. "Suppose I was able to build my own transporter, or better yet, figure out how to charge the disk without a duel. If we could do that, the four of us could all go to Kaorus' place whenever we wanted, all at one time, and take him out."

Crows' face lit up and gave his friends a smug smile. " It sure is good to have a Techi on the team! If Yusei was able to make use of the transporter to our advantage, we'd be able to completely catch Kaoru of guard with a Team Satisfaction surprise attack!" He glanced over at Jack. "Meanwhile, while Yus figures out the machine, we could also take out those other three "Elite", you know, as a warm up! That could also insure that no one got in our way while we prepared…What do you think Jack? Are you up for it?"

"You'd better believe it! It would be my pleasure to take those jerks out! " the blonde exclaimed, a sly grin plastered on his face as turned to Hinagiku. "This is very good that we have a plan now; the four of us will take down these Elites for a bit of target practice, create a particle transporter, then head straight to the villains' lair for some payback! And of course, we'll leave the final strike to kill Kaoru for you, Hinagiku!" The pinkette nodded and smiled back, but bit her lip, slightly nervous. "What's wrong?'

"It's just that you guys are going to get harmed if you fight these people and I really don't want that to happen at my expense. I can tell you are going to end up doing something dumb to protect me and hurt yourselves …" Yusei, Crow and Jack looked at each other for a moment…and burst into laughter.

" Hinagiku!" the blackette said between chuckles. "You know us way too well! No matter what you do or say, the guys and I will end up doing something dumb anyway! It's how we roll!" Jack grinned at Yusei, then at his pink haired friend.

"However, you don't need to worry about us; we're big boys now, we can take care of ourselves!" the blonde explained. Yusei smiled softly at his brother and then at Hinagiku as Crow kissed the back of her neck.

"Hina…don't forget, we all decided to take this challenge together; all of us have already vowed to beat Kaoru and that's what we plan to do. Plus, in case you forgot, the one of us have three years of memories to retrieve! Don't worry about us; you're the dangerous one! " Crow said softly in Hinagikus' ear before wrapping his arm around her neck and putting her in a playful head lock.

"You seem to attract trouble; I'm gonna have to keep an eye on you!" Hinagiku sighed, a slight smile forming on her face as she shook her head defeated.

"Okay, fine! You guys and I are a team, aren't we? I can't hog all the fun myself!" The pinkette winked at her three friends and added sarcastically, "But, don't blame Hina when you guys get boo boos! I warned you!" The pinkette grinned as the others burst into laugher, again.

Jack stood up from the worn, living room couch and picked up his plate off of the coffee table. "Well it's getting late and you've had a long day, so Hinagiku, why don't you just go relax for the rest of the evening? You know, take a nice shower, get comfy, and do all those…things girls do to relax. In fact, we should all take a break." Hinagiku nodded at the blond and she and Crow got off the couch as well. The ginger haired man took his girlfriends' hand gently.

"Hina, come on upstairs with me and I'll let you borrow one of my towels…if you want, of course!" Hinagiku grinned and wrapped her hands around Crows' muscular abdomen.

"Lead the way love!" The couple smiled and pecked each other on the cheek, then walked over to the ring ladder in middle of the kitchen the and climbed up to the second story. Jack and Yusei watched their friends disappear to the next floor, then turned to each other and smiled slightly.

"Sheesh. Love birds," the older blond muttered as he carried his dinner dish over to the kitchen sink and dropped it in. "Well, I'm sure glad its time to hit the hay; I could use my beauty sleep! Eh, Yusei?"

Yusei frowned. It was nighttime, he was tired and he _certainly _had a big day ahead of him(Aki^-^)…but, if he slept, would he have another…dream about the…Ghost? Maybe he should go work on his runner engine… Jack glanced over at Yusei, who sat up and sluggishly made his way over to the sink; he set his bowl in next to Jacks' plate and turned on the warm water. Jack frowned. "Yusei? That's strange; his whole aura just shifted," he thought to himself.

Yusei glanced over at the massive pile of dirty plates, bowls and silverware. "I might as well wash the dishes tonight. With Hinagiku around, they'll be another set of them to pile up in our sink; we'll have to clean them more often…or start using paper plates. Do you mind grabbing Crow and Hinagikus' plates off the coffee table for me?" Yusei asked. Jack watched silently as the blackette reached over to his left and grabbed a bottle of dish soap from under the wall fixed, cherry wood cabinet.

"No…" The blonde grabbed his younger friends' wrist and gripped it tightly in his hand as he forcefully pushed Yusei away from the counter. "Let me…do this tonight." Jack glanced over at Yusei's eyes for a moment; lately, Jack had begun to notice the blueness of Yusei's eyes fade a bit, most likely due to sleep deprivation; he always seemed dead. "You look really exhausted…Why don't you just go upstairs and get some rest?" Yusei shook his head.

"That's alright. I've got it…"

"No, I insist. Just go take a nap at least."

"Jack, I'm fine…" Yusei attempted to pull him arm away from Jack, but couldn't; Jack had a year of strength on him, so it wasn't really a fair fight.

"Yusei, go upstairs. You need to rest!"

"Dude, relax!" the annoyed blackette yelled out, a bit annoyed. Jack glared and tightened his grip on Yusei's wrist till he heard Yusei wince in pain. "Geez! What's your problem?"

"You're the problem!" Jack yelled suddenly. "You're gonna kill yourself with all this overworking! You're not the only person in this house who can work! It's like you're afraid to sleep or something…" Yusei glanced up at the blond, but said nothing; he just stared at him silently. "…Grr... I swear, you'd better not be avoiding rest because of that darned "The Ghost gives me nightmares" crap…" Yusei glanced down at the ground.

"…No Jack. I'm not…This is a dumb conversation."

Jack sighed and let go of Yusei's pale and blood deprived wrist. "Please Yusei…please just let me do something for once."

The blackette chuckled softly as he rubbed his ailing arm. "If I didn't know any better, I'd think that's the first time you've said please in weeks. It's true; Hinagikus' presence really does has a good affect on your personality…"

"…What the duce is that supposed to mean?" Jack growled angrily as Yusei shook his head and smiled softly.

"It was a joke…Don't forget to wash off all the soap before you dry the glasses." The blackette turned and walked over to the second floor ladder. "Jack?"

"Yes Yusei?"

"Thanks. G'night….Love ya bro."

Jack pouted as a slight reddish tint poured into his pale cheeks, brought about by the slight embarrassment at his friend for saying he loved him. "SHut up and go to bed," he muttered back. Yusei smiled a bit, then climbed up the ring ladder and stepped onto the next floor. Jack sighed and glanced down at the pile of dirty dishes. "Idiot," the blonde muttered to himself. "I hate washing these stupid dishes…"

_(Linebreak! - I never actually do these!=^-^=)_

Hinagiku sighed deeply as she stepped out of the steam filled shower, one of Crows' towels wrapped around her body. The young woman could not believe how good a hot shower could feel after a long day! For the average girl, warm water was more of a necessity, but for a slum born Satellite resident, it was something of a luxury. How times had changed!

Hinagiku stepped over the showers edge onto the floor and walked over to the bathrooms' counter. She had laid out a pair of undergarments, a black sports bra, a thin orange robe and a pair of black sleep shorts with, of course, orange stripes along the sides and inner thigh lay out on the cold marble countertop.

As the pinkette discarded the soft brown towel and began to dress, her mind couldn't help but be anywhere but with her. "It's very hard to believe," Hinagiku thought to herself as she glanced in the restroom mirror. "…that so much could happen to a girl in one day. I mean, I've been reunited with my closest friends and lover, I've gained three new friends…and some jerk under Kaoru has already tried to take everything all away from me…"

The pinkette slipped on her shorts and robe, then balled up her dirty clothes and towel and dropped them in a black hamper that stood next to the edge of the sink. Hinagiku glanced briefly at the clock on the sinks' table; the digital screen read 21:49. "It's not too late…but I should probably just go to sleep now." The pinkette then stepped outside of the restroom, her hands fumbling to tie the sash on her robe, and began walking toward Crows' room. "Oh!" Hinagiku paused for a second. "I should say goodnight to Yusei and Jack before I go to sleep! I wonder if they're in their rooms…" Hinagiku thought to herself as she hopped over to the first of the three bedroom doorways, which lay slightly ajar. "Hello?"

"Oh hey Hinagiku!" a voice yelled out. Yusei was laying on his bed, a book in one hand and the other on his forehead, wearing a pair of low ride, black gym shorts with red lines on one leg, the pattern, similar to the one displayed on his everyday wife beater shirt. The blackette sat up and set the book down.

"Hey Yus. I just wanted to say a quick goodnight…Whatcha reading?" Hinagiku picked up the novel off of Yusei's sheets and read the cover. "A New Quantum Theory- The Not So Basic Analysis Of Micro-particle Movement and Quark Momentum…Yusei?"

"Yeah?"

"You are such a nerd." Yusei laughed, and nodded in agreement as he reached up for the book.

"I'm not just a nerd. I'm a former gang member and a nerd. I'm a gangster nerd; that makes me cooler."

'Yeah right. Whatever floats your boat," Hinagiku chuckled as she jumped on top of Yusei, causing the book to fall on the ground and the two friends to crash onto Yusei's tiny, metal frame bed.

"Geez!" Yusei exclaimed loudly as Hinagiku gave him a bear hug. "Is it possible to hug me a bit less…dangerously? I'm a fragile guy. Plus, this bed can barely hold me when I sleep on it; it might break if you smash me on it!" Yusei said with a slight grin. Hinagiku smiled back at the blackette and let go of him; she leapt off of Yusei, who sat up as well.

"Good night Yus!" she said cheerfully. "Sweet dreams; if you're lucky, they'll be about your date with Aki-waki tomorrow!"

"Oh shut up." Yusei muttered, a blush on his cheeks. "You are really enjoying this aren't you?"

"Yes I am. By the way…You should take off your shirt at the date tomorrow."

"Huh? Why?"

"She'll just love to see your abs are even better than I said they were."

Yusei blushed heavily as Hinagiku traced the outline of his abs with her finger nail. "That's really awkward Hinagiku…hey wait! What? What did you tell Akiza about my body? Was that what you guys laughing about when I got home? I swear Hinagiku…if you said something weird to Aki about my lack of abs, I might just die of embarrassment!"

"Lack of? That's funny! No, I didn't say that. What I said… was even more embarrassing! Anyway, jokes aside, tomorrow at breakfast, do you want me to give you the dating low-down? You know, to help ease off your first date jitters?"

"…Yeah! Thanks! I'm gonna need all the help I can get!"

"Ha! Goodnight Yusei."

"G'night; tell Crow I said night to him." Yusei waved to Hinagiku coyly; she nodded and exited the blackettes' room. Yusei plopped back down onto the soft bed sheets and glanced at the ceiling. "Sweet…dreams huh? Thinking about Aki could make that happen…I bet she'd take the Ghost out any day…One rose tentacles attack and that cyborg would be scrap metal…" Yusei sighed as he dug his legs under the cotton blankets and pulled them to him abdomen. "How 'bout it Aki? Wanna help me sleep tonight?"

_(Here comes a line break! XD This is fun!)_

Hinagiku smiled. She had stood at the door after she'd closed it and heard Yusei's last murmurs. It was nice to see her standoffish friend finally out of his comfort zone… Well, onward! Hinagiku walked over to the second door; she still had to give Jack a goodnight hug. She walked up the next doorway, which was closed, and opened it slowly. "Jack?'

"Ah, Hinagiku! Come on in!" Jack yelled from in the room. Hinagiku slipped into the room and closed the door behind her.

"Jack?" Jack stood on the other side of the bedroom, staring at the night sky through a slightly dirty window. The bright Neo Domino moonlight glowed brightly, its reflection illuminating the dark room and making the blond visible. Jack turned around and smiled slightly at Hinagiku; he wore a pair of lose fitting, black sweatpants that showed the rim of his red boxers, and his characteristic "Jack Atlas" necklace, that lay around his neck and rested on his pale and muscular chest. Hinagiku grinned as the blond man walked over to his bed, sat down and motioned for her to do the same. The pinkette plopped down on the sheets next to Jack. "I just came by to say good night…and I had to ask you something," Hinagiku whispered softly to her older friend. Jack cocked his head a bit.

"What's up?'

"Well, tomorrow Crow has to work again and Yusei will be busy with his dat…will be busy with his day job. So I was wondering if…if you didn't mind, could we go riding tomorrow? Just for a bit around the city? I tuned up my runner, but it needs to be revved! Plus…" Hinagiku grinned slightly. "That runner of yours is one heck of a ride. I might need to race it, just to see how good it is!" Jack smiled.

"Absolutely Hinagiku," he said softly, a smile on his lips. "Plus, we could "borrow" some on extra cash and hit up my favourite coffee place afterwards; they have excellent blends, fit for the upper class like ourselves!"

Hinagiku laughed and threw her arms around Jack, causing him to blush. "That sounds like fun! I'll pay for my coffee though; I shant suffer a broke Yusei's wrath!" The pinkette laughed and squeezed her blond friend in a tight hug. Jack blushed even harder as he felt Hinagikus' soft arms on his back and her hands resting on his hips. The older male cautiously leant forward and hugged her as well. Yusei's words from the conversation they had earlier that morn suddenly rang in his ears

_"You're just happy because you still like her."_

_ "No I don't. Stop being stupid."_

_ "You did. I know you did. Admit it!"_

_ "You did too, last I checked, You were super jealous of Crow." _

_ "No I did not! You lie! Jack Atlas is never jealous! "_

Jack sighed as he breathed in a familiar, refreshing scent, coming from Hinagikus' soft locks. It was a scented shampoo, to be specific, apple cinnamon…his shampoo. Normally, Jack would be very upset that someone touched his stuff, but…Hinagiku could use anything she wanted. He pulled a few fingers through her hair; it felt like velvet, soft and luscious…Yup…That was now her shampoo.

Hinagiku started to weaken the grip of her hug, so Jack squeezed her a bit harder. "Um…Jack?" Hinagiku started to say.

Jacks' mind was lost in confusion. Why couldn't he…why wouldn't he let go? What was wrong with him? Let go! Break free! Think Carly! The blonde finally loosed the hug and silently stared at Hinagiku, who gave him a look of slight confusion. She was beautiful…Jacks' eyes drifted from her tone legs, then her flat stomach, then to her face; she had the most lovely eyes and… those lips. Her rosy, soft looking, pink lips.

"Jack? Are you okay?" Jack started to lean into Hinagiku. "What…what are you doing?" All of Jacks' facial features softened and his piercing violet eyes mellowed. Really, he had no idea, but the blond no longer had control of his body. He felt sick to his stomach as he bent forward. "Ja..umph!" Jack leant in a bit more, took the back of Hinagikus' head in his hand and pulled it towards him; the twos' mouths met. The blond immediately pushed Hinagiku onto his bed, the sheets rustling under their bodies. He sighed as he kissed his pink haired friend with more passion, his tongue brushing over her soft lips, and his arms wrapping around her waist. Hinagiku tried to say something, but it came out muffled and the feeling of her mouth vibrating soothed Jack even more. He pushed his tongue hard down on the pinkettes' lips as his hand pulled lightly on Hinagikus' bra strap…and then it clicked and he froze. Jack suddenly jumped off of his friend, a blush spreading from his face to his neck. The pinkette sat up and glanced at him.

"Hinagiku…I…I don't know what I…" Hinagiku smiled weakly up at Jack and got up off the bed.

"G…goodnight Jack. See…you tomorrow." The pinkette choked as she ran out of Jacks' room and didn't look back. The older man cried out as he collapsed on his bed and curled up in a ball. Tears began to appear around his eyes and he vigorously tried to wipe them away. What was wrong with him?

"What…what the duce did I just do? Arghh!" Jack screamed to himself as he punched the mattress of his bed and bit down on his lip till it bled. A bit of blood trickled down his chin as he whimpered.

"Hinagiku…I'm sorry!"

**Kurama**- Whoa. Just whoa. That's all I have to say.

**Yusei**- I thought Jack doing the dishes was unexpected, but that was…

**Ariyuki**- Scandalous. I can't believe I just wrote that.

**Kurama**- Me either.

**Ariyuki**- Well, there's an epic plot twist for you! Jack does the unthinkable! How will this affect his relationship with Hinagiku? How will she respond? Find out next chapter…NOT!

**Kurama**- Wait what?

**Ariyuki**- I am so evil! Next chapter is going to be completely devoted to Hinagiku and Crow! After all this Justiceshipping(Jack x Hinagiku) I'm in the mood to do some Guardshipping fluff; I need a break from all the heart wrenching writing! ! In the next chappie, Hinagiku will have a strange but important dream, there'll be a (hopefully) very lengthy romance scene and we'll have a flashback to the day Crow first kissed Hinagiku!

**Crow**- I think I'm gonna like that chapter! Hey, where's Jack?

_*The Ultimate Silence…*_

**Ariyuki**-…To be continued!

**Yusei- **Please review!

**Kurama**- Bye everyone!

Next Chapter- A First Dance For The Lovebirds


	8. A First Dance For The Loverbirds

**Ariyuki**- Hurray! We've made it all the way to Chapter Eight! Cue the flashy fireworks, multicoloured confetti and jubilant music! Congrats everybody!

*dead silence*

**Ariyuki**- -_-'…umm…Hello? Anyone here?

*more dead silence*

**Ariyuki**- Geez! Where is everybody today? Jack? Crow? Yus?…Ku?

**Kurama**- …I'm here! One moment!

(Kurama runs in breathing heavily and sits next to Ari)

**Kurama**- Sorry I'm late! I just finished doing your homework for you…_I mean, my top secret and completely unrelated to maintaining your G P A mission_…"thing".

**Ariyuki**- Oh! I forgot about that I sent you on a "_mission"_; thanks Ku! So, where'd everyone else go?

**Kurama**- Let's see…Well Crow went to take a shower, Jack is currently in a state of emotional turmoil thanks to last chapter and Yusei's sleeping…he's probably having sketchy dreams about Akiza… I suppose it's just you and me doing the authors' note this chapter.

**Ariyuki**- Oh well ^o^ You and I will just have to have fun by ourselves!

**Kurama**- Yups! Anyway, we're sorry for the super duper late update… I mean, you guys waited for like…a whole month! That's just ridiculous…We're very, very sorry everyone!

**Ariyuki**- I have to agree. School has started and is currently dictating my schedule, thus taking over every hour of my life:( I don't really see that as the main reason for my late update though. This chappie was sort of hard to transition into and I wanted to make sure the way I chose to start the section was smooth and fit the rest of the story. Plus, when I first wrote out the chapter draft, it was like…1000 words. I usually have an average of about 4000 words, so I had to reformat the section! I hope nobody's to upset about the update issue and I hope this chapter is very enjoyable!

**Kurama**- A humongous thank you ^-^ to our first time reviewer Juliet (see? I thanked you. I'm being nice! *-* Giggles) our third time reviewer Loviigirl22 and our five time reviewers TLoZfantic44 and sammycrusinix! This story has almost twenty reviews, which is, in a word, FANTASTIC! You guys are so super special awesome! (Tee hee! YGOTAS reference u) Thanks for the continuous support; your positive reviews inspire Ari work her hardest to produce lengthy, high quality and overall, good chapters! I'm so glad you guys are reading and enjoying our story! Cookies, cake _and _chocolate(the ultimate threesome) for those of you who reviewed and those who review this chapter! Luv ya!

**Ariyuki- **I hope that nobody is too upset about me extending Jack/Hinagiku cliff hanger, but with one door closed another door opens! A long awaited and extremely important Guardshipping chapter has arrived! In today's' update, Crow and Hinagiku will _finally _get some well deserved alone time, Hinagiku will have a mysterious dream and, we'll learn a bit about the beginning of Hinagiku and Crows' past… and their first kiss! It's gonna be a fun and exciting chapter!

**?-** Guardshipping romance? Yay! Disclaimer time! Ariyuki does not own Yugioh 5ds or Yugioh World Championship 2010, but she does own Hinagiku, the fifth member of Team SATISFACTION, as well as this story!

**Kurama**- Alright, WHO JUST DID THE DISLCLAIMER? .

**Jaden Yuki-** It's me!

**Ariyuki**- O.O Jaden? Hey man! What are you doing here? And, how do you know about Guardshipping?

**Jaden**- Hey ya Ari! I was bored today, so I'd thought I'd come hangout here in 5ds land with my favourite authoress! And as for the Guardshipping, I was looking around on your profile, anxiously awaiting a new YUGIOH GX ONESHOT WHICH YOU HAVEN'T DONE IN FOREVER AND YOU SHOULD REALLY GET TO WRITING(*cough* hint, hint, nudge, nudge…), and I fell in love with the story!

**Ariyuki**- Coolness! Why don't we get started with the next chapter?

**Kurama**- -_-'' …it's my freaking disclaimer…that's my job…not fair…

**Jaden**- What's his prob? I just did one disclaimer.

**Kurama**- …I hate you…you're so mean…IT'S MY JOB!

**Jaden**-I'm sorry?

**Kurama**- …Grr…

**Ariyuki- **^-^' Poor guy. Chapter Eight!

**Chapter Eight- A First Dance For The Lovebirds**

Crow Hogan sighed deeply, inhaling a mouthful of cloudy steam as he turned off the showerhead nozzle and let a few stray drizzles of warm tap water drip onto his skin. The ginger ran a hand through his wet, soft orange locks as he pulled the thin white shower curtain and stepped out of the tub onto the cold bathroom floor.

"Whew! It sure feels nice to finally relax and wash off the day…" Crow said to himself happily as he grabbed a coarse black towel that hung from one of the curtain rings and began to dry off his neck. He stepped forward, walking away from the shower and over to the bathroom sink; he glanced at himself in the wall mounted mirror, using his forearm to wipe some steamy fog off of the glass and make himself more visible. The ginger gazed at his dripping gray eyed reflection softly, cocking his head and looking it over a bit.

The young mans' long, pumpkin coloured locks had collapsed from their normally spiky state and now fell down over his shoulders, onto his chest, and over his face. Crow flexed a bit, observing his particularly large arm muscles move slightly, then turned to the side and looked at his chest and abs, which were both very taut; despite the fact that Crows' job kept him sitting most of the day, the ginger maintained a moderately sculpted figure. Still…it could be better.

Crow shook his head, a bit water falling from his bangs as he mumbled to himself, "I wonder if I really am attractive… What is it that Hina likes?"

While the ginger was a bit surprised to hear himself say that, Crow couldn't deny he was curious as to why Hinagiku had picked him to be her love over the rest of Team Satisfaction.

Since he could remember, Crow had always been, sadly, considered not to be attractive, at least compared to Jack and Yusei, who flaunted good statures, colourful eyes and overall good-looking vibes. In fact, when the three were younger, many of the Satellite girls and boys Crow knew teased him often, referring to him as Martha's Weird Kid, instead of Crow, because of his unique physical features; he was always shorter and smaller than all of the other kids his age and his up do-ed red hair had always given him a wild appearance. The constant, harsh mockery had dealt a sharp blow to the gingers' esteem and confidence in his looks. Of course, he had never talked to Jack or Yusei about his feelings before; he wanted to feel as cool and as tough as they were. Crows' two friends almost never let someone else's comments hurt them…and what kind of tough guy worries about his looks?

Crow chuckled to himself as he touched his backwards twins' hand in the mirror and followed his fingers down the glass, smudging it slightly. "Why am I thinking like this? Why now, after all this time?" he asked himself. The ginger laughed slightly, shaking his head again and pulled his hand back. Crow frowned at himself and yelled, "Have confidence Crow!" at his reflected likeness.

"This isn't you," he continued. "You aren't acting like the guy you usually are. You're just nervous because you're about to spend the night with your love for the first time in three years. Jack and Yusei are great guys…and you are too! Show your love that. Don't worry about anything; you love this girl and she loves you too; nothing will go wrong! Really!" the ginger consoled his reflection.

Crow grabbed a pair of black boxers off of the marble counter top and slipped them on, then threw his towel into the side hamper. He glanced down at countertop clock that read 22:10. "Hmm…Wow; its' still really early for me to be going to bed, but whatever."

Crow quickly brushed his teeth and looked at himself one last time in the mirror, smiling slightly, before slipping out of the bathroom and turning off the light. "Huh? That's weird," he murmured as he looked down the hall at Yusei's closed door. "That's really strange. Yusei usually leaves his door open at night while he works…But I don't hear him tinkering downstairs either. Is Yusei Fudo actually…_sleeping_?" The ginger stepped down the quiet hallway over to Yusei's door and slipped into the room, careful not to make too much noise, then tiptoed over to the young mans' small bed. "Ha ha," he chuckled to himself as he glanced down at Yusei. "I don't believe it."

The blackette lay on his side, his face nuzzled into the soft white pillow, his left leg tucked into his chest and his hands resting next to his lightly red cheek; Yusei was snoring softly and mumbling something unintelligible. Crow sat down on the edge on the tiny cot and smiled down at his friend.

"Well hey there Mr. Insomniac…Wonder why you decided to sleep for once. Got a big day tomorrow? An important Tops job? A hot date to mentally prepare for?" he asked the unconscious man jokingly; the usually standoffish and tough male looked, oddly enough, calm, so much that he seemed …almost angelic.

"You look peaceful Yus…it's sorta comforting for me to see you relax. I mean, you are always working, I hardly ever catch you taking a breather," he whispered quietly to his unconscious brother as he brushed some strands of hair off of Yusei's forehead gently. The ginger grabbed Yusei's blanket and pulled it from his waist over his shoulders, tucking him under the thin sheets. Crow grinned at the blackette once more; a smile had softly appeared on Yusei's face, a light sigh slipping from his lips as the raven snuggled comfortably in the soft linen.

Crow sat up off the bed and walked over to Yusei's blinds, pulling them down, and then he went over to the room door. "Night Yusei…" the ginger whispered softly before he exited the bedroom and shut the door.

The ginger stepped out into the hallway and began walking towards his room. "I wonder if Jack's asleep too?" he wondered as he past the closed entrance to his blond friends' room. Crow knocked on the door quietly.

"Jack? You up?" he whispered quietly. There was a long silence, followed by a muffled noise. "Huh? What was that?" The ginger pressed the side of his head up against the solid wood door and listened intently. After a moment, a second noise was heard, that sounded like…crying? Crow grabbed the door handle and turned it, then gave it a slight push. He glanced inside the dark room for a moment. "Jack?" The ginger stepped inside and tiptoed over to the blonds' bed. Jack lay on the hard mattress, halfway covered under strewn linen, shaking slightly as tears and sweat dripped from his face. The wing signer rolled on his side as he muttered a little into the bed sheets and sniffled.

Crow hopped onto the mattress and sat next to Jack; he placed a hand on the blond signers' shoulder and shook a bit. "Jack? Jack? Come on wake up! You're having a nightmare!" the ginger whispered to his unconscious friend, who whimpered slightly. Crow sighed as he looked down concernedly at Jack, who bore a pained look as he twisted more into the white linen.

"Bro…that must be one heck of a bad dream you're having…I mean, you're Jack Atlas right? Nothing ever fazes you…What a horrid thing you must be thinking about. I wish you'd wake up and snap out of it…I wish I could help… " he murmured softly to the sleeping blonde. Crow pulled the twisted sheets from around Jack and tucked his older friend in.

The ginger sighed as he glanced at Jack. "I guess I should go now; there seems to be no waking you and if you were awake you'd probably want me to get out of your room anyhow…" Crow whispered softly as he placed a hand on Jacks' shoulder. "…umm…you know, I'm going to my room…to spend some alone time with Hina. I've been waiting all day for this and I'm really happy to have her back; actually I'm ecstatic. But…I've got to admit, I'm a bit nervous. I guess in a way I'm stalling seeing her because I'm worried…worried that I won't be what she wants, that I'm not good enough for someone as…perfectly amazing as she is. In fact, it's almost as if I'm hiding here. Pretty stupid, right?

"I mean, I haven't been with Hina for three years and I really want her to feel my love and know that my feelings for her are even stronger than they were before. Hinagiku needs me more than ever…to protect her from the awful people like…like I wasn't able to before." The ginger sighed deeply.

"What do you think Jack? What should I do?" Crow asked as he lay down next to Jack, grabbing the older mans' loose arm and laying it over his shoulder. The ginger gulped as he cautiously hugged Jack.

"I'm sure you or Yusei'd know what to do in this situation. I wish… I could have you guys over my shoulder helping me out more often. You guys have always been at my side in the past, sticking by me through my life and helping me make the right choices…but…maybe I'd be a better guy with less chips on my shoulders and a girlfriend with happy memories if you were making _all_ the decisions for me…"

"…I guess after remembering how little I could do for Hinagiku the day she was taken, I'm starting let my emotions get the best of me; I'm angry Hina was hurt, that she hurts even now and I'm starting to fear things that never scared me before… Love, Kaoru, my own strength…Silly, huh? So how 'bout it Jack? Do _you_ think I'm any stronger?" the ginger asked openly without the intention of getting an answer.

Suddenly, Crow felt Jacks' head fall on his neck and one of his arms clutch Crows' shoulder; the blond hummed softly and the tail signer felt a tear trickle from Jacks' cheek onto his neck. He blushed profusely at the boys' awkward closeness and quickly slipped out of the blonds' arms and off of Jacks' bed.

"Okie dokie, that was really weird…Why did I just do that; I mean, when's the last time I even hugged Jack? Am I really that messed up that I'm talking about my problems to a guy that can't even hear me and embracing him? I'm really tired aren't I?"

Crow chuckled softly, then stared at Jack sadly as he walked over to Jacks' door and started to pull it open. "I can just see Jack now if he were awake. He'd be freaking out, yelling at me like _"What the duce is your problem? How dare you enter my palace when the King is trying to rest_!_" _And then he'd push me away and kick me out of his room. _"Leave me the duce alone!"_ " The ginger laughed half-heartedly at his sad impression of the older man as he shut the door. "That's what…he'd say…to me at least." The doors' lock clicked and the room was silent for a while as Crow walked over to his rooms' door and began to open it.

"Crow…" a voice weakly moaned out. Jack opened his deep violet eyes slowly, tears glazing his lower lashes, pieces of blond hair clinging to his forehead as he clenched his fists. "Why are you…such a good guy? I've done something awful to you that you don't even know; you wouldn't be coming to help me or to ask me for help if you knew I forced your love to kiss me…I'm awful. It hurts…" The blond buried his face into his pillow. "And why Crow…why do you think…why would you ever think I'd push you…away?"

_(Line break party!)_

Crow smiled nervously as he clutched the handle to his bedroom door tight and began to turn it. "Here goes something Crow Hogan!" the ginger thought to himself as the lock clicked open.

"Hina? Are you in there?" he whispered softly, a hint of nervousness in his voice.

"…Crow? Is that you?" a voice answered back in a chipper tone.

"Yeah. Can I come in?"

"Please do!" the pinkette replied happily. Crow took one last deep breath before pushing the wooden door open and stepping into his room.

Hinagiku sat on top of his bed, the dark linen sheets pushed at the end of mattress near her feet. The pinkette had discarded her robe, which now lay on the side of the nightstand table, and only wore her sports bra and pajama shorts; the moonlight streaking in from his window illuminated her flawless bare skin and pleasing figure against the darkness. She held her deck of worn Duel Monsters cards gingerly in her hands. "Hi Crow!" the pinkette exclaimed cheerfully as she gave Crow a bright and adorable smile.

The red head blushed deeply as he stared at his lover. "Geez whiz; Hinas' so freaking cute…" the ginger thought to himself as he scratched his head somewhat shyly.

"Hey Hina. Sorry it took me a while to get here. I had to take care of some stuff first…I really hope I didn't keep you waiting for long," Crow said as he closed the hard, cherry wood door behind him and stepped into the bedroom. The pinkette set the deck of cards next to her on the black bedside table.

"No, not at all, I just got here myself…. Plus, you're worth any amount of waiting anyway."

"Oh that's good! I mean, I left you all day, so I was worried you'd be…upset at me for taking so long to get here," the ginger admitted, a bit embarrassed.

The pinkette smiled softly at her koi. "Are you kidding me? I could never be mad at you! In fact, I was just thinking about that same thing. I've been waiting all day for you…but you've been patiently awaiting my arrival for three years now! Plus, you've remained faithful to me and our relationship all this time despite the fact that you had no idea where I was or what I was doing… I really am lucky to have a guy like you by my side," Hinagiku said with a smile as she motioned for Crow to lay next to her.

"So…care to sit down and join me tonight?" she asked with a soft smile, the aqua blue rings around her hazel eyes gleaming. The ginger grinned back as he nodded and slowly sat next to the pinkette on his bed. The young woman blushed vigorously as she stared at her lovers' tone and tan body, which she could see was as at least five times as amazing as it was in the past.

"Wow…You are so handsome Crow Hogan…" Hinagiku whispered, somewhat unconsciously, almost as if an instinct. She blushed a bit as she moved a finger down his left cheek mark. "So gorgeous…" Crow smiled happily as he slipped an arm around her waist and rested her head in the crook of his neck. Hina said he was handsome and gorgeous. What was he worrying about earlier for? A large chunk of Crows' fears instantly lifted off his shoulders, and he sighed in relief. The ginger kissed Hinagikus' forehead lightly.

"You look amazing too; I haven't seen something as beautiful as you are right now in like…forever Hina," he murmured quietly into the womans' ear, causing her cheeks to flush a bit more. "You're driving me mad just looking at you…"

"Oh Crow stop it, you're making me blush! " Hinagiku jokingly scolded as she pressed her hands against Crows' chest. He sighed as her fingers moved up and down as they rubbed against his sensitive skin, sending long awaited sensations down his whole body. The ginger lightly cupped Hinagikus' chin and cheek with his free hand, and rubbed softly as he kissed down the bridge of her nose gently. The pinkette pulled her hands away from Crows' abdomen as she intertwined her fingers in strands of his deep orange locks; she pulled the mans' forehead to her own and her light hazel eyes met his enticing gray orbs.

"Hmm Crow…kiss me. Please, kiss me the way you did three years ago. I'm so nostalgic…" Hinagiku moaned softly as she tugged his hair and wrapped her left leg against the gingers' hip . Crow chuckled as he flipped the pinkette on her back and knelt on the bed, her legs between his knees.

"Sorry Hina…No can do," he whispered softly as he grinned at Hinagiku. The pinkette frowned slightly.

"What do…you mean? Do you…not want to kiss me?" she asked sadly. "I mean, that's ok…" Crow chuckled quietly.

"No No! That's not it! What I meant was that back then, I was new to the romance scheme, and a relatively childish lover. I'd like to think I am…" the ginger paused to kiss Hinagikus' neck. "…a bit more mature than then. Shall we test that theory?"

Hinagiku giggled, then sighed as Crow kissed up her neckline and licked the underside of her chin softly. The ginger sucked on the pinkettes' soft skin, leaving a small red mark, and then dragged his lips up to her own; the two began to kiss.

Hinagiku moaned as she opened his mouth slightly, inviting Crow to deepen the kiss slightly, and she slide her hands down the tail signers' shoulders, massaging them. The pinkette allowed Crow to slide his tongue into his mouth, then she sucked a bit on the soft flesh. Crow moaned loudly at the new feeling, sending a pleasing vibration between the two mouths.

He gently lowered himself on top of the pinkette, somewhat crushing her against the soft mattress. Hinagiku took a second to enjoy the feeling of Crows' bare upper body crushing her chest, then pushed her hips alongside Crows'. The two began to rock against each, slowly at first then faster, experimenting with the friction between their bodies, savoring the unfamiliar sensations. Hinagiku rubbed her hands gently against his pelvis through the black fabric of his boxers, earning her a gentle moan from her orange haired lover. Crow released the kiss for a moment in order to let out a loud gasp as Hinagiku slipped her cold fingers under the elastic rim and pushed them on his sensitive muscles. The ginger responded by rolling the pinkette on her back, bringing his head down to her body and kissing the soft skin over her spine.

"Well then! Someone wasn't kidding when they said they're more mature!" Hinagiku giggled after a few moments as she spun back onto her back and smiled up brightly at Crow, who blushed slightly.

"Th…thanks Hina! That was really awesome; I've never felt like that before!"

"Me either! That was truly incredible; I'm impressed!" Crows' blush deepened. "Man…I love you so much…"

"I love you too Hina; my feelings get stronger a little bit more each second."

"Oh Crow! You're so sweet…" Hinagiku giggled softly as she wrapped her arms around the gingers' waist and rested her cold hands on his soft skinned shoulders. Crow nuzzled his face into the pinkettes' neck as he embraced his love. The two lay silent, breathing in long, gentle breaths as they snuggled against each other on the soft milk white bed sheets. Hinagiku cocked her head slightly, the tip of her nose nestling in Crow's deep orange hair; she whispered out softly, "Hey Crow, can I…can I talk to you about something?"

The tail signer rolled over on his side, turning Hinagiku as well so that the two then faced each other. "Of course you can. What's up?" Hinagiku sighed and glanced down at Crows' chest.

"Um...It's just that I've just been thinking about today and well... to tell you the truth…I'm a little bit worried. Today's duel against Jaku was really easy to win but I'm not sure the others will be. I know you, Yusei and Jack want to help me fight the Elite and I really do want your help! However, I would not be able to bear it if something went wrong and one of you got hurt for my sake…again." The young woman lowered her head into her chest, slightly ashamed. "This is my fault; those people want me. I don't want to sit and watch as you guys work so hard and take my pain! I don't want to a hindrance, to be weak and useless, like I was three years ago…"

"Weak? Useless? Are you kidding me?" Crow couldn't help but laugh, causing Hinagiku to look back up slightly. "Hina! You were being attacked by a group of weapon wielding psychos and you barely even flinched! The two of us were chased for at least half an hour while being shot at, yet you never once broke down in exhaustion or fear! Not only that, but the only time you subdued to those…those vermin…was to protect Jack, Yus and I! You had no idea what they wanted to do to you, and you gave yourself up regardless! They could have killed you or done something worse! You are one of the strongest people I've ever known! And you think you were useless? Hina, your sacrifice is the reason I'm alive!"

Crow smiled brightly at the pinkette, then his eyes suddenly dropped, as if they attempted to avoid her glance for a moment as he mumbled, "If anyone was useless that day, it was…me."

Hinagiku gasped, taken aback by Crows' unexpected comment. She cupped his head in her hands and the pinkette gave her koi a serious look. "What are youtalking about? Are you kidding _me?_"

"Hina I…I couldn't do anything to save you! I just sat there and let them take you away!"

"It wasn't your fault though."

"Who says I did all I could have? I should have protected you longer!"

"Crow, they shot you, multiple times! Did you forget that?"

"What's a couple of gunshots? I'd been shot once before!" Crow shouted erratically as a few tears dripped down his cheeks. The emotions he had been holding in his heart for three years unexpectedly gushed out, surprising even himself. "Do you realize that Jack had a broken back from all the attacks he suffered and that he was almost killed when he went to protect us from the gunmen? Or what about Yusei, who had been hit so many times that his actual _stomach_ was bruised? I didn't even know that was possible! Can I add that his skull bone was also bruised and he had a shattered ankle? Oh, and last I checked, the woman I love was kidnapped and I didn't see her for three years! " the ginger yelled harshly as he pulled his head out of Hinagikus' hands and buried his face in one of his pillows.

The pinkette wrapped her arms around the ginger. "Crow…Is that how you feel?" He was silent. Hinagiku sighed and kissed his forehead lightly. "Love, its' true. I did go with Kaorus' thugs in an attempt to save you guys and I guess that was brave of me. However, I got all my courage from you!" Crow looked up slightly shocked.

"I was there when we hit that dead end street. I remember being scared to death when all those armed thugs pinned us against the wall with nowhere to go! And I also remember very vividly how you stood in front of me, totally still and calm, and informed them that you'd never surrender me to them, that you'd protect me all the way to the banks of the River Styx! Do you have any idea how that felt? To see someone love me so much that he'd be willing to die for me?"

"Crow, I cringed in pain every shot. Each time they fired, I felt the stings you felt. You didn't get shot a few times, you were shot nine times! I don't know a lot of people who could with stand that much torture for so long. I don't think Yusei or Jack could have…You were so determined to save me, you were ready to die. That's the bravest, strongest thing I've ever seen. No wait, correction. _You're _the bravest, strongest thing I've ever seen! "

Crows' light gray eyes quivered slightly. "Wow, I didn't know you felt that way…I had no idea. I thought I'd been useless. You think I'm strong enough?" Hinagiku chuckled as she grinned brightly.

"Um yeah! How could you ever doubt your own strength! I mean seriously, look at those muscles!" she added as she poked at Crows' abs, then held her finger. "Ouch! That hurt! Why'd you flex right then?" The ginger laughed slightly.

"Oh gimme a break! You faker! You're just saying that to make me feel good!" he joked happily as he shook his head. "You're too cute you know that?" Hinagiku and Crow laughed and they lay against each other softly. The pinkette wrapped her arms around Crows' tan abdomen tightly.

"Don't sleep in that stupid cot tonight. Stay here with me; I want to wake up in your arms." Crow nodded. The two silently smiled at each other. "Do you remember the day we met?"

The ginger grinned softly. "Yeah. We were thirteen…no wait, I think you were still twelve. Right?"

"Yup. You saved my life that day… Was I cute then too?"

"Yes you were…very cute Hina. You're just naturally cute!"

"Aww! Hmm, we kissed that day too, didn't we?"

"Yeah, we did. I remember..." Crow closed his eyes for a moment as he pressed his lips against Hinas' and thought back to the day…

_**XXXXXXX(Flashback)XXXXXXX **_

** "I'd better hurry home; I'm gonna be late if I don't rush home!" a thirteen year old Crow Hogan panted out heavily as he ran down the crowded streets of Satellite, his tight orange v neck tee, black shorts and red, slip on sneakers soaked with rain. He glanced down at the plastic bag he clutched tightly to his chest. **

** "Why does the doctor have to live so far away? Oh well…Man, I really do hope this medicine makes Jack feel better; it's no fun when he can't play with Yusei and I. Stupid 103.4 degree fever! It's had him out for three days now," the ginger mumbled to himself as he turned onto a cobblestone pathway that ran through a nearby park. "Perfect! This short cut should lead me straight home in twice the time, possibly before dark! It almost dinner time too; I wonder what we're having?"**

** The young boy smiled to himself as he thought about getting out of the freezing rain and into the house, a warm blanket wrapped around his shoulders as he split a cup of his favourite ramen with his raven haired friend Yusei Fudo. As Crow made his way over the slippery stone, his thoughts consumed by thoughts of food, the ginger almost didn't spot the huddled mass that lay on the wet grass besides him, wrapped in a tattered, mud splattered sheet. **

** "Wait, was that a person?" he asked himself as Crow stopped running and cocked his head behind him. "It was!" The ginger ran off the pathway and into the sodden dirt to the shivering body. "Hey! Are you alive?" Crow knelt down and pulled the sheet down, revealing soft pink hair that lay mopped a top a slightly bruised but pure face. **

** Crow gasped a bit. 'It's a girl! Hey! Wake up! Come on miss!" he yelled as he shook the girls' shoulders violently. She stirred a bit before opening her hazel, blue ringed eyes and looking up at the ginger. **

** "Who…who are you?" Crow smiled brightly.**

** "Whew! You're okay! I thought you'd died!" he said, a relieved tone in his voice. The boy took the young preteens' shoulders in his small hands and helped her sit up. "Hi. My name is Crow Hogan. What's your name?"**

** The girl looked up at Crow warily and stuttered, "H…Hinagi…ku. My name is Hinagiku, Crow-san." The boy grinned coyly.**

** "It's just Crow, not Crow-san. Why are you out here in the park by yourself?" Hinagiku glanced down at the softened earth. **

** "Well, my home was burned down yesterday while I was out playing and when I got to the house, I couldn't find my housekeepers or servants anywhere, so I ran away…because I was scared."**

** Crow nodded in understanding. "Are you rich?"**

** "I don't know. My parent's might have been, but they died a long time ago…so I don't know much about them. Why do you think I'm rich?" the pinkette asked innocently. **

** "You said you had servants!"**

** "So? Don't you have a servant?"**

** "No…I'm poor. I'm an orphan like you, but I live in an orphanage…" Hinagiku frowned slightly.**

** "I'm so sorry. Orphanages are bad places right?"**

** The ginger shook his head. "Not at all! It a nice place; I have a place to sleep, the coolest foster mother ever named Martha and two best friends who I consider my brothers, though I guess they really aren't because we're not actually related… Yusei, who's a bit shy but really smart, is my age and Jack, who's loud but super strong, is a year older than me. The three of us are all really cool guys! Though, I think I'm the greatest duelist out of all of them."**

** "You're a duelist? Me too!" Hinagiku dug into the pocket of her light blue dress and pulled out a deck of cards that lay in a black box. "My favourite card is Gilford the Legend because…well, he actually has a spirit! He can talk to me and stuff!"**

** "Really? No joke?" Crow asked in curiosity as he stared at the deck box with widened eyes. Hinagiku nodded happily. "That's so cool! My favourite card right now is D.D. Crow. It doesn't have a spirit, but I think it's really cool because we have the same name!" Hinagiku laughed softly.**

** "I'd love to see it some day…Will you come visit me here, in the park, again soon?" the pinkette asked as she squeezed the boys' arm. Crow shook his head.**

** "I'm not going to leave you in the park silly! Come home with me! Martha's really nice and so are Yusei and Jack! You can come live with me at the orphanage!" Crow grinned brightly as he extended his small hand toward her. "Get up and come with me! It'll be fun and I'm sure Martha will let you stay. What do you say?"**

** "T-thank you!" Hinagiku grasped the gingers' hand and attempted to stand up, but she wobbled slightly and fell into Crows' chest. "S-s-sorry! I think I sprained my ankle when I ran over here so it's a bit hard to walk…Please give a me a second to get my balance!" Crow shook his head. "Here." The ginger slipped his arms under Hinagikus' tiny legs and slowly, and a bit strenuously, lifted her off the ground. "Y-you're not too heavy; I'll carry you home!" Hinagiku blushed softly as she wrapped her arms around Crows' neck. "Alright! So…we are going to be friends…right? I mean, I've never really had a friend before. Is that what we are now?" Crow chuckled coyly. "Of course! Now let's get out of the rain okay?" The ginger began to walk towards home once more. Hinagiku smiled as she cupped the boys' face, causing him to pause for a moment, and kissed his mouth softly. Crow gasped, slightly taken aback by the sudden action, but he grinned brightly when she pulled back. **_**Hinagiku just kissed me! Wow! Wait till the guys hear I got my first kiss! Jack and Yusei are going to be soooo jealous! **_** "Thank you Crow Hogan! We're gonna be really close; I can feel it!" The young boy blushed happily at his new friend and smiled. "Right! Let's go!" **

**XXXXXX(End Flashback)XXXXXX**

Crow pulled his lips away and he hugged Hinagiku tightly in his left arm as he used the right one to pull the blank bed sheets over their warm bodies. "Hinagiku…sleep well tonight, okay? Tomorrow's a new day, a new adventure for the two of us, and we need to be well rested. You never know what will be thrown at us!" Hinagiku nodded sleepily.

"Yah I am a bit tired…Goodnight Crow. I love you!"

"Mmm. I love you too Hina…I'll see you tomorrow…" The two embraced tightly as they began to slowly drift off to sleep. "That's right Hina…go to sleep…for the first time in three years…rest peacefully in my arms…" Crow watched as Hinagiku's eyes drooped and she slowly fell asleep in his arms. "Hina...I'm so glad you think that I'm strong. I promise I'll live to protect you. Those men, the Elite, Kaoru...They will _never_ hurt you again..." Crow closed his eyes, his head rested on Hinagiku's neck and fell into a deep sleep.

_(Linebreak Ta Da~^-^) _

_Hours later…_

_ "Miss…miss? Have you seen my heart?" Hinagiku opened her eyes slowly._

_ "Where am I?" she asked herself as her eyes adjusted to the light; she could just barely make out the background. The pinkette observed that she was in a small cramped room with dark black walls and strange pieces of machinery scattered around her. Hinagiku attempted to lift her arms, but they were tied down to something behind her that felt like a pole._

_ "Miss…My heart is next to you. I can feel it pulsing…may I have my heart?" Hinagiku glanced around the darkness as she attempted to find the source of the voice. _

_ "Where are you? Who are you?" Hinagiku gasped as she saw a young boy with blue hair and dead gray eyes appear out of the darkness and crawl towards her. _

_ "May I have my heart please?"_

_ Hinagiku sighed. "I don't know what you're talking about but yes you can have your um…heart…thing." Hinagiku heard the boy giggle slightly, then she felt his hand dig through her pocket and pull out a small battery._

_ "Thank you! I'm glad you kept this for me…" The boy pushed the box deep into his chest and Hinagiku heard a soft click. " Bzzt! Identity confirmed... Thank you Hinagiku…I remember you now…and I know I need to save you. I must leave…I'm gonna try and beat Kaoru…in order to make it up to you for what you have done…Hinagiku. "_

_ "Wait what? Kaoru? What's going on? Hello? Hello? What's going on? Help me!"_

_(Linebreak)_

Hinagiku gasped as she woke up in Crows' bed panting heavily, sweat droplets plastered on her forehead. She rested her head on Crows' chest and held her head in her hands; it hurt profusely. "What is going on? What was that dream?" Unconsciously, she began to mumble, "What are these words in my head? What ami saying?...A T N two seventeen...battle model…usb repaired memory… A T N two...seventeen…."

**Ariyuki**- Oooo! Dun dun dun! Cliff hanger! I wonder what Hinagiku's dream was about? Of course, I do, but you can all guess too!

**Kurama**- I hope everybody enjoyed the chapter! We are super sorry that it took so long to get updated! Please forgive us!

**Ariyuki **(sniffling)- T-thank you for waiting so patiently and not flaming me for my horrid update skills! I love you guys, you're so nice!

**Kurama**- Next chapter should be out on October...19th? It should be a good chapter! With Crow at work and Yusei off on his very first date, that leaves Hinagiku and Jack all alone in the house! After last nights events and Jack kissing Hinagiku, how will the two react to each other? And why does Hinagiku still want to go out riding? And speaking of Yusei Fudo, is everyone's favourite dragon head signer ready for his date with Aki? Hinagiku has her work cut out for her when she attempts to give him a rushed Dating 101 course!

**Jaden**- Please review if you can! Reviews make Ariyuki very, very happy and she really appreciates them! Thank you so much!

**Ariyuki**- Thanks for reading and we'll see you soon!

Next Chapter- Two Birds Fly- Jack, Build The V Formation!


End file.
